Prangg!!!
Every maid that was lining up in front of the duchess flinched as they heard the sound of glass shattered after being throw at the wall.
All of them gave Charlotte a pitiful look. Charlotte was the youngest maid in the Duke of Earlington's household. She had been here for about three months but already hated by the lady of the house.
She was pushed to accept any wrongdoings made by other maids as her own. She was frequently punished by the Duchess for the littlest mistake that she accidentally did.
A lot of people were saying that the Duchess was being strict with Charlotte as she was a very careless and often broke the fragile decoration in the mansion.
When she was the scullery maid, she would broke the plates at least three of them in one day. After being transferred as the housemaid, Charlotte kept on hitting or dropping the furniture such as the beautiful vas from China.
But they didn't know that Charlotte was targeted by the Duchess since she first arrived at the mansion. At that moment, she did not had dropped even a spoon but was scolded right away after she alighted the carriage that brought her to London from her village.
Regardless how bad the treatment she received from the Lady of the house, Charlotte kept her silence as she had nowhere to go in this big city. She could not even go back to the countryside as her maternal uncle had taken over her house after her parents' death.
Hence she silently received the verbal abused without any complaint. Not that she had the chances to do so.
However, today was different. Charlotte was caught ripping the Duchess gown that she was going to wear at tonight's ball.
Charlotte tried to defend herself by saying that she tripped on her own gown and tried to grab on something to cushion her fall. While doing that, she accidentally grabbed onto the dress and tore it beyond recognition.
Now, the Duchess wanted to chase her out of the mansion. The housekeeper and the cook tried to defend her but to no avail. This was not her first time trying to fire her from the job. She had been doing that for numerous times.
However, the Duke had always at home when it happened and prevent the Duchess from doing so. Charlotte was very unfortunate as the Duke was not at home at this moment. There was no one that could help her this time. The Duchess knew it and that's why she had the smug smile on her face.
Charlotte could no longer argued to keep her job at the household. She was immediately threw out of the mansion without given any time to change out of her uniform nor to pack her things.
The Duchess had other maids to throw her things outside of the mansion's gate together with her. Now, unemployed with no roof on her head, Charlotte had nowhere to nor she had the slightest idea what to do. Therefore, Charlotte remained lingering in front of the house, hoping that the Duchess would change her mind.
After waiting for a while, she saw the housekeeper came out of the kitchen's door. The kind hearted housekeeper kept on watching the area before running toward Charlotte. Without saying much, the housekeeper shoved a few coins into her palm.
"Take this. Go somewhere else.The Duchess would not changed her mind." she instructed.
"But, Mrs Brown, I don't know where to go" she pleaded to the housekeeper.
Mrs brown slapped her own head. How did she forget that the maid was new to this big city. Obviously she would be clueless on what to do!
"Listen to me. You've been to Hyde Park before right?"
Charlotte nodded her head vigorously.
"Good. Now try to go to the park. If you are lucky you would meet any Lord or Lady who would want a maid"
"that easy..?" Charlotte was sceptical.
"yes ! Hmm…well, if you are lucky. I need to go. Good luck Charlotte" Mrs Brown quickly went back into the kitchen. With a few coins in her palm, Charlotte made her journey to Hyde Park.
As soon as she arrived at the park, she saw a huge crowd swarming the park. There were so many people mingling with each other, Charlotte doubt there were Lord and Lady among them.
There was a huge weird looking tent were erected in the middle of the park. She could also see people in weird costume walking around the park.
" Excuse me may I know why they are so many people at the park today?" Charlotte tried to inquire some information from a nice looking lady.
"Ahh…there a circus show in the park this week. People from all over London came here just to see them!"
"What is circus show?"
"You don't know about them? Well how to explain this. Hmm.. they are basically a travelling company which provide entertainment to the public"
"Do we have to pay them?"
" yes of course!"
"then I have to go! I don't have any money to spent on circus show" Charlotte exclaimed. The though of spending the few coins she had on her terrified her!
The nice lady chuckled when she heard Charlotte's words.
"Don't worry. You don't have to pay them to be in the park. In fact, some of the entertainment offer by them are free! For example….hmmm..yes that fortune teller! Let's go over there" the lady cheerfully dragged the unwilling Charlotte toward the fortune teller.
"Lady fortune teller, are your service for free?" the lady asked a woman who was clad in unique garb complete with colourful headgear that Charlotte had never seen before.
"No. It depends. Which one of you wanted my service" the fortune teller lady scrutinized the faces of her potential customer.
"This girl!" the lady shoved Charlotte so the fortune lady could have clear view of her.
It took the fortune lady several minutes to asses Charlotte before saying "Alright I'll do it free for this girl as she looks penniless"
"Thank you" the nice lady cheerfully jumped in her place and proceed to shoved Charlotte to sit on the chair in front of the the fortune lady's table.
"Take out your palm" the fortune lady instructed. Charlotte immediately did as she said while the nice lady was eagerly waiting by their side.
"Hmmm…you have quite an interesting future. There will be ups and down in your life in near future. Hmmm…this is difficult to read. Are you looking for a job?"
Charlotte gasped. "How did you know?"
"Well, I could read your palm and it says that you are looking for a job" said the Fortune Teller Lady. Meanwhile the nice lady began to show sceptical facial expression. Everyone know that she was just being fired by her previous employer by looking at her outfit and portmanteau that she carried with her.
"Then , what should I do"
"Can you read?"
"Yes!"
The fortune teller lady reached out for pencil and began to scribe something onto a piece of brown paper.
"Go to this address, if I'm not mistaken, the owner is looking for a worker. Good luck"
"Ouhh thank you so much"
Before she even get to read the address, the nice lady seized the paper from her hand and began to read it. Her eyes was wide open when she read the address written on the paper.
"Are you out of your mind? Why Do you to send this nice girl to go to this place. There's no job opportunity in that shady place other than being a prostitute!" she appeared to be livid at the fortune teller lady.
"prostitute?!!" Charlotte was shocked to hear the word prostitute. Both of them turned their attention toward the fortune teller lady.
"Can you read? I specifically written down antique shop on the paper!" the lady began to argued.
"there's no way they have an antique shop there" the nice lady refused to believe.
"Have you been there?"
"No"
"I have. Now, do not intervene" she pointed her index finger right at the nice lasy's face. She then turned to Charlotte.
"Listen child, I saw your future at the antique shop. A colourful life is waiting for you there"
"Do not believed her. She must be a charlatan!"
"Ahhhh…keep quite! This girl need a job and a roof to to live! Do you have any other places to recommend to her?" she shouted at the nice lady.
The nice lady shook her head slowly.
"Good. Now let me help her to solve her biggest problem. Now child, used the coins that you have in your left pocket and rent a carriage to this place. Of course, I'm not forcing you. You can decide whether you wanted to go or not"
Looking at how dire her current situation without a roof on her head, she decided to try her luck.
Charlotte used the entire coins that she had just to find a carriage that was heading toward the area. The nice lady was trying to prevent her from doing so, but Charlotte was adamant.
She believed that no one can help her except for the owner of the antique shop. The nice lady sent her off when the carriage left the park. Charlotte kept on praying while she was on the carriage that she had made the right decision.