WF: Chapter 2

Billmore House, Autumn, 1956

Becca didn’t like here one bit. This is not like the England of her dreams. This could not be the England where her mamma was brought up. It was cold and lonely here. So what if her Scottish highlands were colder? There was enough warmth there in people’s hearts to warm up the weather.

But here her uncle roamed around with a perpetual scowl on his face. Her thirteen year old twin cousins, Alexander and Reginald constantly pulled her hair to get a rise out of her. Regina was just a wee little thing at three and hardly of any interest to her. Although the cherubic child did try to follow her around like a loving puppy. But she hated dogs. She was more of a cat person. She had Tabby with her, didn’t she? But Tabby didn’t like it here one bit as well. Tabby was little more than a kitten, with her white fur and black whiskers; and was forever hiding in some corner at this place, not running about all over, like she used to back in the Highlands.

Her Aunt Mary was alright she supposed. But Lady Fairfax was forever crying ever since Becca had come to stay there. She told Becca that it was because looking at Becca reminded her of Elena. Becca thought it was a good thing, but she never understood why it brought tears to her aunt’s eyes. She also did not understand why Papa and Raphael could not stay longer with her or why she could not go back with them. She missed her family.

But Papa had said that she needed to learn to be a lady and Lady Fairfax would help in that; while Raphael needed to learn to be a good and just laird from their papa. Becca thought that she should have been a lad, and then perhaps her Papa would let her stay with him. But she loved being a girl. She sighed. Life could be so tough!

It was time to look for Tabby she supposed.

“Tabby!” Becca shouted. “Where are you, Tabby?” This cat could sometime get on anyone’s nerves, she thought. But oh, how I love her. “Tabby!”

Regina was still following her around on her short feet.

“Cousin Rebecca, you want me to help?” asked Regina enthusiastically trying to pull at Becca’s skirts.

“Hmm. Not now Regina, I am looking for Tabby.” said Rebecca absent mindedly. “Tabby! Where are you Tabby?”

“I can help look for her.” Pouted Regina.

“Oh!” said Becca as she looked down at Regina. “Sure! Just let me know if you see her.” She smiled at the child and thought perhaps Regina was not so bad after all. She just wanted to help. Regina had never had an elder sister and maybe she followed Becca around, because Becca was an older sister to her. After all who would want brothers if they were like those two veritable imps – Alexander and Reginald.

Last evening they had put a frog in her bed and the night before they had tied up Tabby to the pillar outside the main hall. Becca had found Tabby when she went looking for her in the morning. Of course she could not prove it to her Aunt or Uncle, but she knew it was them. Their smile said it all. It would be no wonder if right now also, Tabby was missing because of them.

After all she and Regina had reached the outer boundaries of the Fairfax land and still there was no sign of Tabby. Tabby never went that far, on her own. Just another yard or so and they would be at the fence of the land belonging to the Earl of Montague.

“Tabby!” Becca & Regina shouted in unison. But Becca’s shout was a wail of disappointment while Regina’s shout was an expression of excitement. Becca looked down at Regina who was already running past Becca’s skirts on her two short feet towards the fence.

“Regina! Where are you running like that? And...” But Becca’s words stopped in her mouth as she saw that under the tree on the other side of the fence there was Tabby being petted by a young girl of her age.

“Good kitty” said the other girl as she kept Tabby down and looked up to see Regina watching gleefully at Tabby and Becca peering up at her mouth agape.

“Look Cousin Rebecca, I found Tabby for you. Now will you let me play with her and you?” said Regina as she looked back to Becca.

But Becca was looking at the other girl. She was a mousy little thing in a yellow sundress with her brown hair lying neatly in two braids on either side of her face. She was a non-descript sort of a girl with perhaps her hazel eyes being her most prominent feature. But they too were hidden behind her glasses. And if it was not for Becca’s critical eye, she would not have noted the sparkle in them or her timid smile as she held up Tabby for her.

“I suppose this is your kitty. She looked lost and came over to our side of the fence. I was just playing with her. I didn’t know who she belonged to as I have never seen a kitty before with any of the Fairfax children.” She gave a shudder at the last word, making Becca think that she was rather talking of the two male cousins of hers than the wee little Regina who hardly ventured out of the house without her mamma or Becca.

The girl not liking Alex & Reggie made her an instant hit with Becca who smiled warmly at her and said, “Not to worry. Tabby likes to roam around. And ever since we came from Scotland, she has been wanting to explore this new land; but I could never find time. By the way, I am Rebecca MacVaughan. And this is Regina, my three year old cousin. And of course you have met Tabby, my 6 month old kitten. And you are?”

“Anna. Lady Annabella Wordsworth.” Said the girl with a shy smile.

“Hello Anna. I hope you don’t mind me calling you Anna. You in turn can call me, Becca.” Said Becca who was not yet familiar with titles and salutations of the English world. Without waiting for a reply she continued as she pointed to the lands behind Anna, “I suppose you own these lands?”

It was more of a statement than a question, but Anna nodded her head in the affirmative. Anna really liked this bold yet beautiful stranger – Rebecca, no Becca, who was as different to her as day was to night. Of course, she didn’t mind Becca calling her Anna rather than the more formal title of hers ‘Lady Annabella Wordsworth’ as she was wont to be called by all in the Wordsworth Manor.

Becca crossed over the fence along with Regina and sat next to Anna to pet Tabby. It was then that she saw the stack of books lying on the other side of Anna. Becca was curious as to the titles of the book and saw that they ran along the lines of – A Modern Approach to Agriculture by John Seagull, Roger Auckland & Martin Myers, Trading – New Advances in an Old Field by Artemis Muller & Benjamin Smith, Architecture & New Age Structures by Robert Seymour & Philip Sage. Becca raised her eyes to Anna, and arched a brow to her.

“You read all that?” asked Becca.

“Umm-hmm” said Anna hesitatingly.

“Strange choice” commented Becca. Then as an afterthought she added, “My uncle reads those books, sometimes. I have seen them in his libraries. Even my cousins are not interested in those books and they seem older than you.”

“Um... Yeah, my Pa tells me it is not usual for young ladies to read such books. I should be reading other books like Etiquettes for New England by Mrs. Gertrude Davis or Proper behaviour for young ladies by Mrs. Hermione Ford. I have them here as well” said Anna and started flipping through the stack to look for the books she had talked about. After turning the entire stack upside down she found them. “Ah! There you are! Sorry, it got lost in the stack” said Anna with a hesitant smile as she pulled the said books and placed them on Becca’s lap.

Becca started squirming. “I hate to read books, especially such. But Aunt Mary insists I should read them and learn all about being a lady. Alas, I have a long way to go” sighed Becca.

“Hmm. I can understand your aunt’s point of view. You can keep these if you like” said Anna as she offered the books on etiquette and proper behaviour to Becca.

“Really?” exclaimed Becca, “Thank you. My aunt was going to go this weekend to buy books on this topic. I shall tell her that my friend already gave me these books.” She smiled at Anna.

Anna smiled back, “You are welcome. And thank you for calling me a friend. We have a big library at home. You are welcome to come anytime at Wordsworth Manor and take any book you like. I can even help you through these books if you like. Stupid books and stupid stuff in them, but one has to learn all and abide them” said Anna on a sigh.

Becca was shocked to hear Anna call these books stupid. She thought all English nobility swore by those books. But this mousy girl was calling the etiquette books – stupid. She liked Anna even more now. Life in England was not going to be boring anymore. Becca grinned at Anna, who grinned back.

Thus, that day started a budding friendship between Becca and Anna which promised of going a long way.