by Jackie J
It would be just over a month before the
move to Buckshire manor and whilst Emily was becoming a most competent maid it
did not seem right somehow and Annabella wondered if it ever would. Emily did
not complain oddly enough she seemed to be happy. Strange but Annabella was more
content than happy she had more time with little Raymond which was nice, but it
seemed sometime since she had laughed and her man with her all the time looking
for things to do around the house was certainly strange. Perhaps it would be
different at this Buckshire manor place, but Annabella was not totally
convinced. It would be a new world a world she did not know. Emily had done her
best and Annabella had learned quickly, outwardly yes, she would be a lady in
anyone’s eyes, but internally, in her thoughts, she was a maid.
Annabella had spent some time reading the
diaries that Emily had given her. A window on the girl she had been, the girl
Emily wished her to become again. She
had missed her mother terribly and blamed her father and from reading, something
never reconciled. Her father’s second wife the new Countess of Buckshire manor,
Constance, was never accepted by her and a deep loathing was evident without
reading between the lines. Spoiled she had been for sure, wanting for nothing
but a sadness ran through the text. Her cousin Emily was mentioned on a number
of pages a hint of frustration at her mimicking, dresses copied, her hairstyle
but an amusing anecdote of letting Emily take her place at a summer ball. It
was clear that the idea of becoming a maid gestated over time until it became
an obsession. The later entries detailing that she had decided to actually
force the housekeeper of Buckshire manor, Miss Jarvis, to conspire and collude
with her to fulfil such a strange ambition.
Her father and Countess would be
leaving for the retreat in Switzerland with the domestic staff with only the
housekeeper remaining at the manor. Cryptic entries reflected her enthusiasm
and preparation even a note suspecting her stepmother was aware of her scheming
was not seen to be a deterrent. There was no hint of permanency indicated,
along with the feelings of compelled degradation she craved, and wished to
experience it was, at the outset, to embarrass her father. On his return from
Switzerland he would find his pampered princess reduced to the rank of maid. It
was clear this shock intended to bring on a worsening of his fragile health,
even his demise. Annabella could not recognise anything of herself in the
writings, the author spoiled, conceited, arrogant and with little respect for
others. No doubt many of her contemporaries would have been happy to see her
reduced permanently to the status of maid and as Emily had explained, the
Countess, her stepmother, had indeed sought such an outcome to steal her
inheritance.