"Thank you, Lord Crawford." Louisa said. Roger was the son of a duke and therefore, shared special treatment.
"There is nothing to be thankful for. Let alone address me so formally. You are my goddaughter, therefore, as if you were my own daughter. I hope you'll be very happy here with us." Louisa felt her heart warm at those words.
"I'm going to escort Louisa to her room. After lunch, if she's not too tired, we can go to Oxford Street to shop." Emmeline said excitedly.
"To Shop?" Louisa asked, confused.
"Yes, darling." Emmeline replied. "Come on, let's go to your room." "I hope you have fun if you go out. I, unfortunately, will not be able to accompany you. I have some issues to resolve. But I'll see you in a little while at lunch." Roger said and sat down again, but not before receiving a kiss on the cheek from his wife. She took Louisa's hand.
The two left the office and Emmeline guided Louisa up the stairs. They went through the fork on the right. The rugs under Louisa's shoes were reddish with gold accents. Although they weren't terribly fluffy, she could feel how soft they were.
Louisa glanced at the walls, which were flanked by large portraits, and at the end of the hallway, one portrait stands out from the others: Emmeline's. This confirmed to Louisa how much the husband adored his wife.
They both stopped in front of a room with white doors, with a golden handle. Emmeline spun it around and let Louisa into the room.
The room was bigger than the entire Dubois house. The decor indicated that it was a female room, with no shadow of a doubt; after all, it was all in pastel shades of pink and lilac.
A huge bed sat right in the middle of the room, with a pink bedspread. More pillows than Louisa thought possible a person could need, in shades of lilac and pink, with a flower embroidered on each. The same flower that was painted on the first floor, in the entrance hall. The rugs that lined the bed floor were pink, with a white chest at the foot of the bed, which shared that same color. The bedposts were white, but inlaid with designs and, some, painted in gold. It looked like a princess bedroom to Louisa. In the corner, she noticed a desk. 'There must have paper and ink there', she thought, which she could use to write to her parents and to Paul.
As soon as Emmeline received Eva's letter, she was overjoyed at the prospect of having a 'daughter'. Her son was already a grown up man and was travelling all the time. Eva didn't talk about Louisa being kicked out from Iontach, though. She simply said that she wished that her daughter could perhaps have a better life in London. Servants in the big city had less drudgery than those on the farms. Of course, Louisa didn't know enough to aim for more than being a maid, but still, she could be a chambermaid and that would be so much nicer.
Emmeline wished her sister had agreed to join the girl. She hated that both she and her husband lived in these conditions, like mere servants on a farm. Mr Dankworth had noble blood, but so far away that almost nobody remembered his connection to the Barron of Lilford.
"If something is not to your liking, we can change it, without a problem." Emmeline said. "Now, make yourself at home. I'll see how lunch goes." With that, the woman left the room, leaving Louisa alone.
The girl looked around, taking in the room. She walked past it and reached the desk. Opening the lid of the furniture, she found what she wanted: ink, a quill, and a few sheets of paper. However, she would do that when she returned. That way she would have more to write about.
Louisa took her suitcase from the foot of the bed, sat on the floor and opened it. She took out the two dresses she had inside: one for home and the other more formal. It wasn't luxurious, it was obvious, but for a maid, it was a good dress. There was also another sock, two sets of underwear, and a book. 'Gulliver's Travels', Louisa's favorite. There was a copy in Iontach's library, and as she had always loved that book, Olivier got a used copy and gifted it to his daughter on her thirteenth year. She kept that book with great care.
Rising, Louisa deposited her belongings into the trunk at the foot of the bed. Then she looked at the mattress that looked so fluffy. She was really wanting to lie down, however, her clothes were dusty from the trip. She was thinking of going down to the servants' area and asking where she could take a bath. But it was not necessary for her to leave the room, as a knock on the door, followed by a nice girl, came to her.
"Miss Dubois, I'm Mindy, your chambermaid." The girl said, her rosy cheeks lifted in a smile.
"Hello, Mindy! I'm Louisa. Chambermaid?" she asked, confused.
"It's my pleasure, miss. And yes, I am responsible for serving you. When you need to go out and one of the bosses can't accompany you, I can go with you." That last sentence Louisa picked up on that Mindy wanted out and was more than willing if Louisa asked her out for a walk. The girl's blue eyes gleamed with hope.
"I understand. Well, Mindy, what I'd like right now is a bath." Louisa said. Probably this kind of treatment was because she was there as a visitor, for the time being. She would enjoy these perks. There was no harm in this, right?
"Oh, sure, miss! I will arrange it immediately!" Mindy bowed and walked away.
After a few minutes, Mindy returned, with two boys on her heels. They carried buckets of hot water. Mindy opened a door near where the desk was. Louisa had not been aware of the existence of such a door. It was the same color as the wall.
The two boys left the new door and one of them, the tallest, with dark hair and green eyes, looked at Louisa and smiled sheepishly. He had nice dimples.
"Hurry up, David! Miss needs her bath!" Mindy said and the boy followed the other one, closing the bedroom door behind him as he left.
Louisa entered the 'secret room' and saw that it was a kind of bathroom. There was a bathtub there, of white porcelain, with gold faucets. The window in the room wasn't very big, but it was enough so that the room wasn't stuffy.
"Need help, miss? With the dress." Mindy noticed Louisa's plain clothes, but didn't let on the confusion she felt when she realized that such a humble girl was related to the Crawford family.
"No, no. You can let me manage here by myself. Thank you, Mindy!" The girl bowed and left.