The usual daily activities at the mansion commenced with the breaking of the day. Aina was in Clara's room with her breakfast, and had her curtains opened for an inflow of air.
"Tell Mrs. Eunice that I'll see her this morning by nine." Clara told Aina, before gulping her glass of freshly made apple juice.
"Yes Mrs. Lewin." Aina replied with a bow. "I'll do that on my way out ma." She added, Clara nodded.
The young girl proceeded to run Clara's bath, and tidied up the room while the Clara took her bath. She was done and out of the room before the later came out of the bathroom.
Mrs Eunice was ready for her right on time, and they want through the farce of sorting out the menu for the rest of the day.
"Mrs Eunice, the key to the drawing room is missng from it's position at the door knob." Clara said at the and of their funny meeting. "Kindly see that it is put back without delay."
"You should talk to Beatrice about this Mrs Lewin, not me."
"It is neither in your job description or that of Beatrice to lock up rooms in this house is it?" Clara asked calmly.
Mrs. Eunice took a few seconds before shaking her head.
"Very well ma." She replied, with Clara unable to understand why she choose such words as a reply to her question. She turned to the door with her upsetting facial expression, and Clara made a face at the woman's receeding back.
If it was going to be a struggle for supremacy at the mansion, she promised herself not to give way to Mrs Eunice and Beatrice's veiled insolence.
As the days went by, the uniformity of the rooms downstairs began to worry her, the sitting room was arranged the same way as the mini living room for everyday visitors. The dinning room was also arranged in an archaic and absurd manner. So one day, Clara amuse herself for the rest of the morning by shifting the furniture downstairs around.
Immediately her lunch alarm beeped, she heard Beatrice and Isabella's footsteps, coming down the stairs for lunch.
"What are you doing?' the tiny little voice of Isabella sounded.
"You've rearranged the sitting room, do you think your arrangement is better?" The little girl asked.
"Well, it is nice to have a little change over here, don't you think so?" Clara asked, and then took Isabella by the hand. "Don't you think the room looks much better this way Isabella?
"No," said the child, "l don't like sudden changes, it doesn't end well at all."
Beatrice standing behind her on the staircase, remarked gently, "Does Mr. Lewin approve of this?"
"Is there a reason why he should disapprove, Beatrice?"
"No." The housekeeper replied. "However, you have to know that Isabella's mother never changed anything without prior information to prepare everyone's mind for the change. And we are all used to such protocol, including Isabella. I think it's much more better to follow such a protocol, or don't you think so?"
It was the calmest type of insult Clara has ever received in her entire life. She felt her face flush from embarrassment "I had no idea there were set rules or protocols for such things. But it's all good, I just told you, so it's not a big deal Beatrice.
The later arced her eyebrows. "Anyway, lunch is waiting." She said, pointing to the dinning table.
Clara ate her lunch, concious that her hands were dirty and her dress crumpled and smeared with dust. She thought she wouldn't have been surprised if Beatrice had ordeed her out of the room to tidy herself.
Sne felt discouraged by the nil reception of her morning's efforts with the room rearrangement. This got her wondering if Bennet would be happy with the changes she made.
She tried to find several subjects that might intrigue Isabella, but the chiId seemed overly indifferent to the conversations at the table and Clara was left with Beatrice's polite replies to her questions.
It was clear that Beatrice would always carry out her due duty even if it means putting up a false appearance before her employers, but it was also clear that she was used to long periods of silence during mealtimes. Even Bennet himself as Clara had observed was not a talkative during mealtimes. She supposed it must be the household rule that she was yet to adapt to because, she didn't grow up in a house where human voices were rarely heard.
"Will you take me for a walk within the house, maybe tothe fields when you've had your rest?" She asked Isabella.
"Alone?" The little girl asked, and this made Clara smile, finally something to lighten the room.
"Yes, alone, the both of us, I don't bite." She said jokingly, making the child smile.
"Isabella meant that she is not allowed outside the house without me," the housekeeper remarked quietly.
"She's not allowed outside, within the compound by herself, at this age! exclaimed Clara "Are you afraid of Ioosing her to the walls and fields? The house is well fenced and guarded, why then is she locked in?"
"Loose me to the fields? Of course not. There is no place I haven't been in the whole compound. Even to the water bank close to the entrance. I do run off to the fields once in a while and I get scolded for it." The child boasted with the little things she's been able to do. "Ask Miss Beatrice, I know all the corners of the land surrounding us. Miss. Beatrice, don't I? She seemed unnaturally excited compared with her show of lack of interest earlier.
"Well, take me around this afternoon. We've been cooped in the house for weeks and we can't keep staying here with no fun activity. Besides, I really want to be taken around." Clara said with more enthusiasm than she really felt for the project.
"Miss Beatrice, can I go?" The child turned to the housekeeper excitedly, her small face beautiful again in unexpected anticipation.
The housekeeper's eyes rested on Isabella's face for a moment, and the skin on her face seemed to tighten across her cheekbones.
"Yes," she finally said quietly, after several minutes of silence. "l have no objection as long as you don't step outside the compound." Turning to Clara, she flashed a false smile. "I will rely on you to see that she's kept safe, Mrs Lewin." She added.
The words felt like they held a strong warning, and Clara felt it word to word. "Are you afraid of having to deal with an escaped prisoner?" Clara said jokingly, in a bid to lighten up the room.
Beatrice smiled. "We've been faced with rain the whole week, the floor outside the gate will be slippery and muddy as well." She replied calmly, and Clara felt a little foolish.
"Yes, I see," she said. "Very well, we will keep within the compound. Come and give me a shout when you are ready Isabella, I will be in my room." She had told the little girl once they were done their lunch.