'Wow!'
Louisa shouted mentally, with a glimmer in her eyes.
She was gazing at the towering gates which was getting pulled apart.
From her place, Louisa stole a glance of just one man pulling the gates to the side. But she did not think that only one man was doing the job of opening the majestic gates for them to go through. She rationalised that there ought to be two or even more hands on deck to open up the gates.
'Oh well!'
She concluded mentally that it was probably her restricted view of the affair that caused her such disadvantage: she guessed her little peek of the outside yard from the little window could not allow her see everything and that was okay.
The carriage rode on, and as the vehicle picked up deeper into the compound grounds, she allowed her eyes to steal a peek of the pleasant scenery which stabbed at her irises.
She saw distinct kinds of trees and flowers of exquisite species. The horticultural perspective of the house made her conclude that Rochester was a man with an excellent eye for exterior beautification.
If the outdoor looked like this, (-and only in part from her place of constraint in the moving coach), how much more beautiful would the interior of his house be?
The surrounding of this merchant's house truly painted a pretty picture: this kind of elegant scenery would leave a lasting impression in any and every sojourner's mind.
Louisa was very sure of this.
''I see you're enjoying quite the view, Hazel.''
The man's deep baritone startled her at once, and Louisa peeled her gaze from the outside sphere to face him instead.
This person was none other than Rochester, and he was seated beside her.
''Well, can you blame me for it? Your house is truly lovely.'' She told him. ''But, I was wrong in observing it too seriously.''
Looking away, she stood her nose very tall. Rochester spied her do this much but her conduct simply made him scoff.. mentally, of course.
''Very well, then.'' he crossed his legs proper and haughtily. ''In the interim of your stay here, I will let you have everything you want because I cannot go any lower than my standards… ''
Unbeknownst to him, Louisa was watching him from the corner of her eyes. She was seriously drooling over this man but she hastily picked back on her pretence of not being interested in his talk.
Rochester remained adamant and spoke up instead.
''In the morning, I'll send for my nurse. I will tell her to make it early enough so that we can know for sure if you are truly carrying my baby. ''
'Heh?'
Louisa could not believe her ears. Did he just mention sending over a nurse to examine her?!
She shouted at him:
''Are you insane?! What do you mean by you will be sending a nurse over?'' She asked.
''I mean what you just heard, Sweetheart. I don't see any reason why you should get very much alarmed over my mentions of it.''
''Fine!''
At her retort, Rochester decidedly stole a sideways glance of her: The fact that he saw her blinking relentlessly made him conclude that she was also as nervous as he was.
The difference between them was how he had long mastered the act of masking his emotions. Perhaps, if she and her mother had treated him with a little bit of consideration, maybe he would have been willing to teach her a thing or two.
''Anyway..''
Louisa steered her eyes to observe him directly.
Rochester saw her do this but he did not care too much about that anyway.
He continued his talk:
''I do not wish to upset you or my likely child you are carrying. So I'll drop this talk for a later time. In the meantime, you're welcome to the Yorthend grounds, my darling Hazel.''
The mood inside the coach turned genteel quiet almost immediately after. Louisa, on the other hand, gave herself deeply to her musings. She could not deny how the mention of him getting a nurse had caused her to become very tensed.
Louisa could barely dispose of her thoughts when the horses pulled the wheels of the vehicle to a slow stop.
''Allow me to help, Ms. Hazel.'' Simon said to her kindly. But Louisa did not feel good that he had broken into her thoughts.
Nonetheless, she placed her hand in his outstretched palm; submitting herself to being led out of the coach by him.
Rochester alighted the cart after her. Whilst she stood waiting to have him talk to her or act like she was at least a little important to him, she got disappointed once he walked past her without as much as striking a quick glance of her.
The servants came rushing out, but Rochester ignored their greetings and hastened his stride toward the main house; Simon with him.
_______
At present, they were walking along a spacious corridor. Rochester and Simon stayed in front, whilst Louisa strutted sluggishly behind the men.
She was contemplating hard over Rochester's words to her back in his coach. His thick voice refused to leave her head and what he'd said about contacting a nurse.
''Ah! Finally!''
A light silvery voice abruptly broke off her thought line yet again.
''Ms. Giselle!'' The woman squealed louder. ''You're most welcome!''
Louisa craned her neck forward as she took in the views of the roundish small woman. Her cheeks pushed out to highlight her jaw bones whilst she smiled, and even though her teeth were brownish, it did not dampen her beaming smile.
Pause!
Did she just address her as Giselle?!
The woman rolled herself closer to Louisa and stopped just in front of her. She'd done so after first making a stop to greet Rochester. Louisa easily admitted him to be this woman's boss.
''Ms. Giselle… Such a pleasure it is to finally meet you..''
''Point of correction, Lady..'' Louisa interrupted her talk. ''I am not Giselle!''
''Oh!'' The woman gulped in her surprise. ''Pardon me then for my mistake.''
''I will pardon you only if you will address me by my own name, Hazel.''
''Wow! Ms. Hazel. It is nice to meet you.''
'Er… You said the exact thing just now assuming I was Giselle. Tch!'
''.. I am Gretta by the way.'' The woman beamed the more, ''but you can also refer to me as Mrs. Phellipe because you see I am a married housekeeper here in Yorthend manor.''
''Okay.'' Louisa told her flatly. She didn't want to establish any ties with this woman.
Mrs. Phellipe was pretty much an excessive talker. She followed closely by Louisa's side and only spoke up after she'd made certain of her observations.
''Oh my!'' She blurted her exclamation, loudly. ''I would say that the boss is not happy from what I can read from his countenance. But see, you do not need to worry that he is that way. First, let me show you to your room and then I'll be sure to have Brightfin settle you down for a bite at least. Because there are rules in this house. The boss will not like for anyone to default the eating hours.''
Louisa broke off her light sashay at this point and shifted her eyes to confront the grey-haired woman by her side.
''What room if I may ask?''
Mrs. Phellipe kept silent at her talk, and it was only a matter of time before realisation dawned on Louisa.
''Wait!'' She paused to catch her breath. ''Are you saying that I will be sleeping independently from him?!''
Mrs. Phellipe cringed back from witnessing her yell like that.
'The guest is obviously a passionate one, indeed!'
Musing quickly, the woman gobbled a lump back in her throat. She'd not expected such hysterical behaviour to come from the guest.
''Ms. Hazel, I am afraid so. You will have your own room but your bed space is truly a fascinating one. I guarantee that you are going to like it very much. It is right up on the next floor. Follow me and allow me prove it to you.''
Louisa said nothing in a haste. Instead, she turned her eyes away from the woman and shot her gaze much forward. She'd scarcely done so when she seized a view of Rochester.
He stopped walking and turned around to face her.
Louisa was waiting.
When his eyes locked glances with her, he caught her frowning at him.
''What is the purpose of this folly, Sir?'' She asked him right away.
Rochester sighed and said nothing. He then stuffed his fists in his pant pockets.
''Do whatever she tells you to do, okay. Go with her and have her show you around the mansion if you want. I am sure you do not expect me to babysit you the entire day, I have some important work that's pending for me to finish.''
''What type of work?'' Louisa questioned him boldly. ''Besides, I do not know this woman. How can I be certain that I can trust her or that she means me no harm?''
''I trust her and she will not cause any harm to you.''
''Lies! You don't expect me to believe that. Do you?''
''Can you listen to me at least? Look, I need to be somewhere else tonight because I am pretty exhausted.''
''You wouldn't dare!''
''I will, Hazel. I will! Right now, I do not have time nor energy for this talk. Just go with her and I will see you with my nurse in the morning.''
''Morning?! Why shou–''
Rochester flipped a sudden turn to head up on his way. He did not spare another second to listen to her rants, and only Simon felt truly pitiful towards his boss's guest.
This was the first time his boss would bring a female guest to Yorthend grounds and even have her live for a while with them, but even though Simon had a particular bias towards this girl, he could very well relate to how awkward the situation was further going to get for his boss.
________
Rochester escaped her vision.
Pouting her mouth into a frown, Louisa folded her arms together and bit hard on her lips. As if him threatening to send over a nurse the next day was not already a blow, he was also going to have them sleep in separate rooms? How then was she going to solidify her plans to keep him completely to herself?
Her mood soured up quickly and she practically forgot that she was not alone.
''This way, Ms. Hazel.''
Mrs. Phellipe's voice sounded arrogant this time around.
Louisa looked her up condescendingly but by the time she'd done this, the petite woman had already swivelled into a sharp bend by the corner.