Hellen

I was sitting upstairs in the bedroom I was staying in when someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” I said. The door opened to reveal Charles carrying an unconscious Charlotte. 

“What happened!?” 

“She fell down the stairs. I caught her then she told me to let go, so I did.” 

“She wasn’t balanced, was she?” 

“Nope. She fell and hit her head. Her mother should arrive soon. Can you try waking her up? She hates me and I doubt she’d like to wake up to see my face.” 

“Yeah, I’ll watch her. Set her on the bed.” He did so and left the room. 

I shook Charlotte awake. “You took quite the tumble there,” I said to her. 

“Yeah,” she confirmed, sitting up. “then your brother came up and just had to try and catch me.” 

“Well, it seems you haven’t broken anything. That’s good, right?” 

“I guess so. I wish Charles would stop with the Shakespeare quotes. He just doesn’t understand that I’m engaged, and that Edmund does love me, just very tenderly.” 

“Is love a tender thing?” I asked, fiddling with my brown hair. “It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn.” I didn’t realize what I’d just said until I saw Charlotte’s concerned frown. “Oh no. I’m turning into Charles now, aren’t I?” 

“How many Romeo and Juliet quotes am I going to hear aloud in this life?” Charlotte flopped backward dramatically. 

“Well, there are five acts, so I’m guessing a lot.” 

The door opened again. This time it was Philip in the doorway. “Charlotte, I was told to inform you that your mother and your sister are outside.” 

“Oh, alright. Tell them I’ll be right down.” 

Philip walked away and I helped Charlotte to gather the gowns that we purchased. I then walked with her to a buggy being driven by a very fine boy of about sixteen. I’ll admit, I almost fainted over his handsomeness. Luckily, Charlotte caught me and gave me a reprimanding stare before turning to the buggy and showing Rose her new dress. 

“It’s beautiful!” Rose exclaimed. 

“How’d you get that money?” asked Charlotte’s mother with suspicion. 

“Hellen Page,” Charlotte said simply, gesturing to me. I smiled and waved at Mrs. Jones. 

“Will you be coming to the party tomorrow, Hellen?” questioned Mrs. Jones with great disgust.

“I wouldn’t dare to invite myself, Ma’am, but I would certainly hope so, as I bought those lovely dresses for your daughters and I’ve been staying with the Turners for the past couple of days.” 

“Why’ve you been staying with them? Don’t you have parents?” 

“I used to, Ma’am, but they and my late brother, Simon, all got a deadly case of pneumonia a couple of months ago. It took all three of them.” I brought a tear to my eye upon command for effect. “My other siblings and I tried to fend for ourselves for about two weeks before we boarded a ship to America.” 

“You had to sail?” 

“Yes, Ma’am; my siblings and I are from London.” 

“I see. Well, we’ll be going now. James, time to leave.” 

The handsome boy nodded and guided the horses away from the mansion.