Isabelle
Isabelle had been given a letter in the secret of the servants hall. It had been delivered by messenger, and came from a man at the docks. That was all she was told. That was all she needed to be told. The envelope shook in her trembling hands, she felt nervous and frightened. Almost too frightened to read it.
She knew she must read it, it would be easy to tell she was ill at ease. She was clumsy to the point of bumping into servants. She could see them standing there, but she could not fathom their presence real. It was as if she was dazed or living in a waking dream, the kind you have three or four times before you finally awaken for good. She was frightened.
Everything she has done. Everything she had. Her precious daughter, her doting and devoted husband. Isabelle pushed a stray strand of hair off her face. It seemed she was falling apart everywhere. Everything was unraveling, all at once.
She reached her parlor, the room she dressed in, adjacent to her bedroom. She sat at her dressing table and looked at the envelope. It fell from her hands to the table’s surface. A silent tear fell down Isabelle’s cheek.
For her own soul she could not be sure for what she cried. For her betrayal of someone she loved and knew loved her. Or did she weep for her family, which she stood to loose from her lack of patience.
She stood up from the dressing table and looked out the window. The scene below in the early afternoon, the yards keeper was cutting the flora. She looked off to the distance, to the boundaries of her estate. Her grande estate. She felt ashamed, she had sold her self. She had sold love for comfort.
She hated herself in that instant, and turned from the window. Her eyes fell on the envelope.
No. This was all Thomas’ fault. For leaving her for so long. How was she to know he was even alive after all this time? No word, no letters, nothing. He required a level of faith she could not put in mankind. Her anger turned to Thomas instead.
She drew in a deep breath and walked to the table. Slowly she reached for the envelope, and opened it. She took out the letter, and began to read.