Free No Choice but Surrender by Meagan McKinney Page A

no one else on her way there.
    She entered her bedroom but was amazed at its transformation. All the articles in the room were the same, from the bed hangings and curtains of Chinese painted silk taffeta to the satinwood furniture with its green inlaid acanthus leaf motifs. But there was a new atmosphere that made it another world altogether. Where the hearth before lay cold and bare, there was now a crackling fire burning away in its depths. A copper- lined tub brimming with steaming water lay near it, and the room was filled with the scent of honeysuckle and jasmine. The Pembroke table was laid with a snowy linen cloth, and on top of it rested four covered salvers from the eating room; the well-polished silver cheerfully reflected the glow of the fireplace.
    Brienne's first thought was that she had mistakenly walked into the bedroom that Avenel was using, but this conclusion was quickly overruled by the room's feminine colors and scents and by the realization that Osterley's new master would surely reside in the state bedroom on the first floor. Her confusion increased when a small, dark-haired young woman stepped out of the dressing room.
    "Ah! Vous etes Lady Brienne! I am Vivie. Ah"—the small Frenchwoman searched for words— "je suis . . . ah . . . I am voire nouvelle fille de cbambre. Voire bonne de demoiselle. Ah!" She gave a small sigh and continued in a heavily accented voice. "Forgive me, ma demoiselle. My English is sometimes slow."
    With that the maid walked over to Brienne, took the bag from her hands, and placed it in one of the painted beechwood armchairs along the wall.
    "You are the new maid? What happened to Annie?" Brienne asked in French. Her mother has insisted on teaching that language to her, claiming it was an essential pan of a young lady's education.
    "How wonderful that you can speak French, my lady! When I am nervous, my English is unrecognizable!" the little woman answered in French, smiling in gratitude. "But to answer your question, I have just arrived from London today. Master Slane has brought me here for you. And such a rush he was in this morning! I have never traveled so quickly! But as for this Annie, I do not know where she is. I have not met anyone by that name here. Would you like me to find her?"
    "No! That is, I suppose she is busy with other matters now." Brienne felt a strange little jab inside her, and she wondered briefly if those other matters included warming the state bed.
    "But, my lady! Enough of my chatter! We must think of you! "'The little woman went to work, busily laying out linen towels by the bath, pouring steaming water into the tub from a brass kettle near the hearth, and then helping Brienne, who was rather dazed by all the attention, out of her soiled clothing.
    Letting Vivie do everything, Brienne allowed herself to be whisked into the tub. Her icy fingers and feet luxuriated in the warm scented water as the little maid scrubbed her back and lathered her long, rich hair. Then Vivie poured pans of deliciously warm water over Brienne's head until all traces of the expensive soap were removed from her hair and body.
    Then she was wrapped in the linen towels, and Vivie labored over her wetfhair, combing it dry by the fireside; only then did Brienne ask the questions that were hovering in her mind.
    "What did Master Slane say of me? I mean, what relationship did he propose we . . ." She spoke in perfect French until she found it too awkward to continue.
    "He has not said a word, my lady. Please do not concern yourself." Vivie stopped combing for a moment and brought her a clean white night smock and her old slate blue wool dressing gown. After helping her into these, the maid moved to the Pembroke table. She took the silver covers from the platters and discriminatingly filled a Sevres porcelain plate with die delicacies within.
    "Vivie," Brienne said as she watched her dinner being served, "I suppose you think I am here to—"
    "No explanations are necessary, my lady.