Chapter 5: A butler's request

Dearest Caroline, 01/13/xxxx

I have started this letter knowing it will be several months until it reaches you. Unfortunately, there is very little else I can do on this cursed ship but write.

From the moment we have set sail I was practically shoved below by the sailors. They are a surly group. I have forgotten how creative a sailor can be with his words.

Beside myself, there are over fifty other passengers and I am told we will be picking up more at the next port. Most of them are recruits like me, sent to fight in his majesty's army. There is also an elderly fellow here who claims to be a doctor. He told me that he is observing the sailors to see how they are able to overcome seasick. I wished he had found a means a week ago. I had been so sick that I could hardly move about.

One of the sailors, a fellow by the name of Fredric, gave me a lemon and instructed me to suck on it. He claims it would help but I was too sick to try it. It wasn't until two days later that I was able to and to my surprise, the lemon did seem cure my sea sickness.

01/14/xx

I have little to write about today Caroline. My thoughts have been on you most of the morning. I must admit that it has been on your health that plagues my mind. Please be safe and do not do anything that might put more strain on you then need be.

01/21/xx

It has been seven days since I started writing this letter. Daily I have searched for something interesting to write to you about but without much luck.

Fredric has been teaching me about how to draw in the sails to control the speed of the ship and how to navigate by the stars at night. I find it all rather dull. I still do not see why people seem to enjoy sailing. But I keep my thoughts to myself, for fear Fredric might refuse to speak to me anymore. He seems to live for the sea. He even told me the other day, that he was born during a storm on a ship sailing for England.

02/22/xx

A storm started the other day and the ship is being tossed about by the high waves.

I don't see how the ship will be able to stay together. It is only made of wood.

Several of the recruits haven't stopped praying since the rain started falling and I have joined in numerous times. The sailors laugh at us and tell us stories of other storms that have sank ships.

02/19/xx

Fredric says we are nearing the end of the storm. That means we will be seeing blue sky in a day or two. I hope he is right. I cannot take much more of this rain. I have not been able to go up on deck since the storm has started. The air is stale down here and more than one of the passengers are violently ill.

I know I described a dismal scene and will try to write about more pleasant things.

I still find myself lost in thoughts of you. Sometimes I even find myself hearing your gentle laugh. I think it is what I miss the most.

I have also been dreaming of you and when I am awake, I think of the days we were together in Evergreen and hope for the future we will have together.

02/22/xx

I am writing now while I sit on the deck, enjoying the fresh air. The storm ended last night as Fredric said it would. The captain told me we will be reaching land within a few weeks if the winds stay fare as it has. As soon as we do, I will find a way to send this letter to you.

03/16/xx

We have finally reached the port. The city is twice the size of Evergreen and the streets are full of wagons and people. As well as a few pick pockets. Some how they got their greedy hands on my wallet. There are also more soldiers patrolling the street then I had first thought there would be. The towns' people seem unease with the amount of soldiers there are. I hear them bitterly complaining about the soldiers and the king when they think no one is listening. I admit I am also unease and will be glad when I can report to my command post.

I have taken room in an inn called the Left Leg's Boot. I must work in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning the dishes, since I don't have any coin for my room. Tomorrow I will report to my commander and see where I will be posted. I will write to you again as soon as I get the chance. For now, I will seal this letter and find a means to send it to you.

Fairest well Caroline. I hope your health remains strong and that of your family.

Please look in on my mother and tell her I send my love. And for you I send my deepest love.

Forever yours,

Danial

04/25/xx

Dearest Danial,

Your letter arrived this morning and it pleased me to hear of your safe arrival. I pray you remain as so.

Your mother is well. I called upon her the other day and she is, besides a slight chill, in high spirits. She talks mostly of you and, though she frets, I can hear the pride in her voice. My mother has taken to visit her almost every day. I often join her, but I find it a bit awkward as they seem talk of little else then our wedding. I would have thought that they would have grown weary of discussing something that will not happen for a long while.

Your father is equally as proud. He doesn't speak of it, but he walks a little taller and actually smile at me when I told him of your letter.

I am doing well. Since summer has begun, I have spent most of my time outside since mother lets me do little around the house. She seems to think I will have another attack if I help the maid with the laundry or wash a dish.

Elizabeth has taken notice to my lack of contribution and have become quite jealous.

She has taken your last request of keeping an eye on me to heart if only for a little while. She spent several days following me about but now she has seemed to have forgotten her promise in favor of her dolls.

We have a new resident to our little town. A Sire James T. Hunter. I think he arrived the same day you left. He is peculiar looking but no one knows much about him or where he came from. There is quite a few rumors flying about. A few believe he owns the plantations in the lower parts of Lowerances. He has a quiet a fortune if he does. But you will never guess where he has taken residence. In the Burgens' house! You can imagine the rumors about that. The house has been emptied for almost twelve years now. I believe the last owner hung himself in his bedroom or the dining room.

Do you think there is any truth to the legend that anyone who lives in that house dies?

Do you remember when you dared me to sneak into the house? It was only a week after the previous owner had died. Of course, I had to dare you to follow me. We made it all the way to the stairs before we both lost our nerves. We did not stop running until we reached the bridge.

I'm sorry for the shortness of this letter but Martha will be here soon, and we are planning on visiting Charlotte. She has taken ill. Many have caught the flu these past few months. Father says it is because of the usual warm weather we are having.

I will write you another letter for you soon.

Caroline

Caroline was about to put down her pen when she paused uncertain.

She remembered how Danial ended his letter and picked up the pen once again. She dabbed it in the ink well and was about to write another sentence when she paused again.

Changing her mind, she quickly wrote.

Be safe my dear friend.

Elizabeth knocked loudly on the door before coming in.

"Martha is waiting for you downstairs," she said before rushing back down the stairs.

Caroline slid the letter into an envelope and sealed it with a dab of wax. Grabbing her coat off the bed she followed her sister down the stairs.

Both of her parents were standing by the stairs as she came down. Her mother looked up at her but continued to list off the things she wanted Mr. Dunches to buy from the butcher.

"And a pound of beef," she finished, "but make sure you look it over. I swear that butcher sells half rotten meat. The leg of lamb I bought from him last week had maggots wiggling around in it."

"I don't know if I will have the time to take a trip to the butcher. I have to meet with Samuel about repairing the fence around the church," Mr. Dunches said.

He was a short, portly man with a weather-beaten face from traveling along the country side spreading God's message to the small villages around the sea.

"Father, if you are going to the post office could you please take my letter?" Caroline asked holding out the letter.

Her father nodded taking the letter from Caroline and put it in his coat pocket.

"Are you going somewhere?" Mrs. Dunches asked her noticing her coat. "Not riding that wild beast again?"

"Martha and I are going to visited Sharlto to see if she feeling any better," Caroline told her. "And Cherry is not that wild."

Mrs. Dunches simple shook her head while Mr. Dunches took the coat that Elizabeth brought him. "I'll walk with you as fare as the church," he offered slipping on the coat.

Caroline thanked him and followed him to the door were Martha stood, waiting, on the porch. She greeted them both a good afternoon.

"Good afternoon, Martha," Mr. Dunches said, "is your mother well?"

"Well sir, except for a minor heatstroke the other day," Martha said. "She became too involved in her garden."

"That is too bad," Mr. Dunches said sympathetic. "Are her tulips still growing?"

"Unfortunately, no, they have wilted away," Martha said sadly.

"This heat is killing all the plant life," Caroline observed. "Even mother's garden is suffering."

"As well as your mother," Mr. Dunches said with a chortled. "The flowers will grow again."

Caroline agreed.

The Dunches' home stood outside the town, one of the few houses nearest to the pine forest. It was almost a twenty-minute walk from their home to Evergreen. The church was one of the first buildings you would see as you approach the town.

A small rectangle shape building with a picket fence surrounding it. Wild daisies growing around each of the fences' post.

Mr. Dunches said good-bye to the girls as he unlocked the gate.

Martha stopped to pick some of the daisies.

"How have you been, Caroline? I mean with Danial leaving," she explained.

"I miss him terribly," Caroline admitted plucking one of the daisies off the fence.

"Today would have been your wedding," Martha noted standing up.

Caroline nodded, "it would have. Instead of walking with you I would be walking to the church with my father. And Danial would be waiting there by the door all dressed up in his suit."

She touched the ring still dangling from the chain around her neck, silently praying for her fiancé safety.

"It is a terrible day to be married, this weather is unbearable," Martha said brushing the sweat off her brow.

Caroline agreed and they continue walking.

Mr. Dorquen, the baker, was sweeping in front of his shop and waved to them as Caroline and Martha walked by.

"Good morning, Mr. Dorquen," Martha called.

Caroline observed the lack of the male figure as she and Martha continued down the street. Many of the younger men had followed Danial's example and joined the army, leaving the women and elderly to take care of Evergreen.

Charlotte mother welcomed them at the door and then lead them to her daughter's room. The drapes had been drawn across the window giving the room a gloomy feel.

"The light bothers her," Charlotte's mother explained to Caroline.

Before she left, she warned both girls not to talk too long because Charlotte needed her rest.

Charlotte was lying in bed with the cover drawn up to her chin. She was extremely pale, and Caroline could hear her raspy breathing like she had a stuffed up nose.

"Charlotte, you look awful," Martha cried sitting down on the bed.

She took Charlotte's hand then gasped, "your hands are so cold! Here. Feel, Caroline. Aren't they cold?"

Caroline grasp Charlotte's hand as she sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Martha was right. Charlotte's hands were freezing.

"How did you become so ill?" she asked. "You seemed well when I saw you the other day."

"I don't know how," Charlotte admitted. She spoke low but her voice was rough.

"I felt well all day. But father had to delivers and asked me to lock up the shop." She paused as she started to cough into the covers.

"Poor thing," Martha soothed stroking her brow.

"I must have been out in the sun too long," Charlotte continue weakly. "Father found me passed out behind the shop."

"Behind? What were you doing back there?" Martha quizzed.

"I don't know. I was locking the shop when a customer came."

"Who would be out that late?" Caroline inquired confused.

Charlotte shrugged. "I didn't recognize him. I just remember that he asked me a question but I cannot remember anything else."

"Is that when you fainted?" Caroline asked.

"I guess it is. Father became worried when I didn't come home. He went to the shop and found me laying at the back door."

"What did the doctor say?" Martha asked.

"He doesn't know. But he says I might have been overworking myself," Charlotte said smiling slightly out of guilt.

"Well I did warn you," Martha scolded her. "I told you, you were taking on too much with helping your father at the butcher shop and your mother with her tailoring. And top of all that you were making those trips down to fishermen homes with the pastor."

"I like helping Mr. Dunches spread the word," Charlotte argued. "It makes me feel like I'm helping the Lord."

Caroline heard the floorboards outside the door creak as Charlotte���s mother walk by. She stood up and went to the window.

"Do you mind if I open it?" she asked. "It is a little stuffy in here."

"Alright but not too much," Charlotte said pulling the covers up to her chin.

Caroline drew back the drapes and pulled the window up a crack.

"About this customer you mentioned," Martha asked, "was there usual about him?"

Charlotte looked at her confused, "no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"Well I find it odd that you felt fine until you met this person. Maybe he did something to you."

"Like what?" Charlotte asked alarmed.

"You shouldn't scare her, Martha," Caroline scolded her friend.

She returned to her seat by Charlotte's bed.

"But don't you find it odd also?" Martha argued turning to Caroline. "That this stranger would just leave poor Charlotte on the street when she collapsed?"

"She is right, it is odd," Charlotte agreed. "What gentleman would do that?"

"Perhaps he was not a gentleman," Caroline suggested.

"But he was dressed as one," Charlotte said confused.

"Ones clothes does not tell you of their character," Martha said. "Do you remember his face?"

"No it was too dark. The shadows kept me from seeing his face," Charlotte said sounding more and more concerned.

Caroline could see her friend was getting more upset and attempted to put her at ease.

"Charlotte, I doubt this person did anything to you. He might, and I repeat, might had some ill intentions but was probably frightened off when you fainted."

"I guess you are right," Charlotte said but was still unsure.

She lifted her hand out from under the blanket to scratch her nose. As she moved Caroline saw something odd on her neck. She first thought it was freckles but then saw it looked more like two small bug bites less than half an inch spaced between them.

Martha seeing she had caused Charlotte to worry and, feeling guilty, she quickly changed the subject to more pleasant things.

For the next hour they talked about the latest fashion that was being worn in Britain. Then moved on from that to the Sunday picnic next week. Charlotte had been helping Mr. Dunches plan it and Martha and Caroline helped her brainstorm.

It was late into the evening when Charlotte 's mother told the girls it was time for them to return to their homes. Though disappointed to see them leave Charlotte was in much higher spirits then when they first arrived.

The sun was starting to drift behind the horizon, bathing the surrounds in its last rich orange glow. They reached Martha's home first. Martha try to get her father to hitch the carriage and take Caroline home, but her father informed her the carriage had broken wheel. Caroline insure them she would be alright and quickly left, by then the sun had set.

Caroline slowed her pace when she a block away from Martha's home, to enjoy the night.

It was still warm, but a little less humid. Dozens of crickets began to chirp, calling for a loved one to find them.

Many of the shops were either closed or about to be. A few called out hellos as Caroline passed and she returned the greeting.

She paused outside the fence around the church, searching for a sign that her father was still there.

There was a light on in the main room that flicked about. Her father must have left a window open, Caroline thought to herself as she pushed open the gate and walked down the path.

"Father?" she called opening the door.

The single oil lamp light cast long shadows over the walls.

Mr. Dunches came out of the back room carrying a few beams of wood to be used to fix the fence with.

"Surely you do not intend to work on the fences by moonlight," Caroline laughed.

"No, I'm just setting the beams out for Samuel in hopes it will prompt him to fix it," Mr. Dunches told her.

He set the wood outside the door before inquiring about her visit with Charlotte.

"She is very ill though, it seems more than a cold to me," Caroline admitted. "Her mother seems to think she will be well in a few days."

"I hope that is true. I will miss her company on my trips to the fishermen."

"Well, I told Charlotte that until she is better I would accompany you," Caroline told him.

She sat down on one of the pews as her father returned to the back room to make sure he had put out the light.

Caroline happened to glance out the window as she sat down and notice someone walking up the path.

Immediately, she knew it was someone's servant by the man's board-like stance yet kept his head slightly bowed to appear staring at the ground.

As he stepped into the light coming from one of the windows Caroline saw he was well dressed for one of his stances.

"He must be one of Hunter's servant," she thought to herself knowing that there was no one else in Evergreen with the money to dress their house servant so well.

Caroline rose as the servant stepped into the church just as her father returned to the room.

"Can I help you?" he asked the man.

The man bowed respectively and said, "My name is Adalwolf. My master, Sir Hunter, has sent me to inquire if the church is still in possessions of the journals of Benjamin Moor?"

"Moor's journals?" her father said in surprise. "What does your master want with those?"

Caroline looked over at the man with more interest. Besides her brief glance at the postal office, she still had not seen the newest residents of the Burgen's house since they first moved in. After a little snooping, she discovered no one else had either.

"My master is somewhat a collector and would like to purchase the dairy," Adalwolf explain.

"I'm deeply sorry but my processor had sent the dairies to the Vatican," Mr. Dunches told him.

Adalwolf bowed, "thank you for the information."

"A strange request," Mr. Dunches said after Adalwolf left.

"What are the Moor's journals?" Caroline inquired.

"Rambling of a mad man," her father answered.

"Really?"

Mr. Dunches put the lamp out before answering, "Moor was a monk. Or that was what some believe. I don't think he ever stayed at a monastery and his journals indicated that he spent a great deal time traveling."

"What makes you say he is a mad man?" Caroline asked as her father locked the church door and they began to walk home.

"His journals are mostly filled with some questionable content," Mr. Dunches attempted to explain. "He claims to have fought demons, mystical beasts, and witches. I thought it sounded like a man living in a fairy tale only with the lacked the damsel in distress."

"Why did the church hold on to it?" Caroline asked as she saw the gleaming lights of her home up ahead.

"I do not know why," her father admitted.

"There must be more to them if they were sent to Vatican," Caroline pointed out.

Her father shrugged, "perhaps they wanted to burn it. But enough of that, dinner should be ready."