The Fourth Mistress

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Louise stood next to one of the servants, who had come to look at the grandfather's clock. She stared at its dial where the minute and second hand had paused.

"When you told me about it not working, I got it repaired. There must be a lot of dust inside," said the male servant, whom Louise recollected to be Jonas.

"How old is this clock?" asked Louise, her eyes taking in the clock which was in good shape.

"Nearly a decade or two, milady," informed the servant while he opened the back of the clock to take a look at it. "But it should have been working because it was only a month ago since madame got them checked by the repairman."

"Mrs. Reed?" asked Louise, and the young man nodded his head. She wondered if the clock had spent its life which was why it was going and stopping at the same time because that could be a possibility.

She stood there for some more time, watching the servant trying to fix it. After a while, she heard the quiet and pleasant sound of the clock's hand move around the dial. "I will let you know if the problem recurs again. Thank you, Jonas," she offered him a smile. The servant left the room to continue his work while she stood there watching the clock.

With the time of the evening moving slowly, Louise could hear the loud silence in Reed's manor. If she didn't see the servants walking, she would have assumed that she was the only person in this huge manor. Her mother-in-law had disappeared into her room, and so did the other family members who lived in the manor, and this left Louise to continue to explore the manor in leisure.

Louise stepped out of the room, continuing to walk in the evening sun-kissed floors of the manor. Her eyes looked outside through the large windows of the first floor she was in, taking in the beauty of the scenery that enveloped the manor to its quietness.

Her feet barely made any noise as they moved lightly on the cold floor. She didn't remember coming to this side of the manor before. She continued to walk in the long corridor until she found a double door that had a smooth surface with two rings of metal handles.

Pushing the doors open, Louise stepped inside the darkroom as the curtains covered the windows from passing any light. It seemed like a room that wasn't in use because every object was covered with white bedsheets to prevent dust from settling on it. The little light that came, it was from the door she had entered, and she noticed a closet that was left half-open.

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She walked towards it.

Her hand raised, ready to close the closet when she noticed fabrics in there. They were dresses, and they probably belonged to a female. She wondered if they belonged to the previous owner's family or... Reed's family. But at the same time, she remembered how Viola had returned the wedding gowns to Mr. Burnell.

Louise closed the closet's door, but when she did that, she heard another door being shut. Her head snapped to look at the main door that had shut itself close, leaving the room dark. Quickly making her way towards the door, she tried opening it.

But when she turned boh the knobs, it didn't open as she expected.

"Is anybody out there?" questioned Louise. She banged on the door before trying to open the door again while wrapped in darkness, not knowing what lingered in there.

It took a couple of tries before she could finally pull it open, and she gasped. The butler stood right in front of the door. She placed her hand on her chest to calm her heart that had suddenly spiked on seeing the butler, who had hollow eyes and a passive expression on his face.

Gilbert bowed his head in greeting.

"I heard the sound of the doors being banged. Are you alright, milady?" asked the butler in a dead tone.

Louise took a couple of seconds before she answered, "Yes. I am fine, thank you." She looked back at the door.

She hadn't opened the windows, and there was no way for the wind to pass and nudge the door to close shut. The doorknobs were present only inside the room and not outside for anyone to pull a prank on her. She wondered if the door was just loose.

"Lady Viola requested your presence in the parlour room," informed Gilbert.

Louise nodded her head, and Gilbert waited for her to start walking. Once she stepped out of the room, the butler stepped closer to the front of the room, pulling it to close the door shut.

When Gilbert followed her, Louise didn't know if he was accompanying her to make sure that she didn't lose her way or so that she wouldn't enter and lock herself in the room by mistake again. On reaching the parlour room, the butler bowed his head again and left.

Louise stepped inside the parlour room, wondering why Mrs. Reed had asked her to come to see her. The fireplace crackled with the logs of wood, giving out light and warmth to the cold room. Inside the room sat Lady Viola and Lady Agatha.

"Come join us, Louise," said Lady Viola from her cushioned seat with a teacup in her hand.

"I hope we didn't disturb you," said Lady Agatha with a smile on her face.

"No, not at all," Louise returned the smile before taking one corner of the couch in which Lady Agatha sat on the other side. "I was only taking a stroll."

"Mm," Lady Viola responded to her words. "If you want to admire every single part of the manor, it will take at least a week. You can take it slow as the manor isn't going anywhere."

"It is a beautiful manor that I couldn't resist myself from taking a tour," replied Louise.

"Indeed," agreed Lady Agatha, "You should ask Graham to take you near the lake that is at the farback of the estate. It has beautiful scenery with a vast sky and the water is clear."

Louise nodded her head, and before she could say something, Lady Viola said, "Graham is busy working on a new project. I don't know if he's told you about it, but our family plans to expand the office in another town. The more successful branches we have, the better it will be to fulfill the dream of having a brand name that solely belongs to the Reed's family." The woman paused for a second before continuing, "As excited as we are to have you in the family, I would like to ask you to not make any long extended plans outside, which could deter him from the business."

"I would never do anything like that, Lady Viola," Louise assured, trying not to take the woman's words to heart. "With my own exams coming up, I doubt we'll have any time for it. At least not for the next two months. Please be at ease," she smiled in the end.

Before Graham's marriage proposal had been placed in front of her, Louise hadn't thought anything of this. But after spending a little time with Graham and not to forget watching him half-naked two times now, her thoughts had slightly derailed. She told herself it was quite natural as he wasn't any stranger but her husband.

"Good that we have cleared that. Meg, pour tea for Louise," ordered Lady Viola. The maid who was waiting on them while quietly standing near the wall stepped forward and poured the tea from the kettle into the cup and offered it to Louise.

"Thank you," murmured Louise to the maid, who offered her a bow and stepped back to where she had earlier been standing. Taking a sip from the warm tea, she brought it down to hold it with both her hands, and she asked, "Lady Viola, are there any old paintings of the previous owner of this manor?"

"Malcolm Lestrange?" Lady Viola recollected the name of the actual owner of this manor. "There's one painting of the Lestrange family in the other parlour room in the back. Robert wanted to keep it as an antique piece for the guests. I had Gilbert put the rest of the things away in the cellar," answered the woman.

"What a pitiful man," sighed Lady Agatha before she sipped her tea. "To not enjoy the fruits of his hard work. Things like that bring in turmoil, don't they?"

"Didn't Mr. Lestrange have any family members?" inquired Louise.

"He was a lonely man. Word had it that his children and wife passed away from a disease," responded Lady Viola in a grim tone, "You know how the gossip mongers like to spread unwanted rumours about old manors and where people die. The manor had been left unattended since the time of his death and when we moved in here, it took quite some time to bring it back to a good shape."

"It took a month, or was it more?" asked Lady Agatha.

"Nearly two months," answered Lady Viola.

While the two older women spoke about the repairing that took place in some parts of the manor, Louise' thoughts wandered to the room she had been in before coming here. After spending some time with them, she went to the second parlour room that was at the back of the manor.

The sun had set, and the candles had been lit all around the manor. The servants were busy preparing for dinner as Reed's family members were going to arrive home and in the dining room soon.

Louise came to stand in front of the family portrait of five people in there. It was a couple with three young men in there. Her eyes looked down at the wooden frame, and she caught a note of the names written there— Malcolm Lestrange, Alexandra Lestrange with their son's Desmond, Hank, Fedrick.

It seemed like the Lestrange family didn't have a daughter.

"The portrait must be older than the manor," murmured Louise to herself while she stared at the couple and their sons.

After watching the portrait for a few more minutes, Louise got back to the hall to hear the carriage wheels and the neighing of the horses arrive at the front of the manor. In the past, Louise often opened the door for her uncle and her aunt. Not realizing it was the butler's job to pull, who had arrived there, she quickly went to the door and pulled it open herself.

Standing at the front of the door, she saw Graham step down from the carriage, and when he started to make his way to the door, he noticed her standing there.

"Welcome back home," greeted Louise with a pleasant smile on her face.

Graham was slightly surprised as he hadn't expected Louise to wait for him at the door. It was the first time after many years, where it wasn't his grim-looking butler who opened the door for him. A little surprised, he gave her a nod while handing his bag and coat to Gilbert.

"Your day seems to have gone well," said Graham.

Louise sensed the butler's eyes shift to look at her for the briefest second before he walked towards the stand to hang Graham's coat.

"It was good," replied Louise before walking further into the house.