"I don't like it when they ask for flowers in their rooms. It ruins my flowerbeds," Luke said, cutting some of the newly flowered daffodils.

"They make me sneeze really badly. Mary has to take over the rooms most of the time," I said.

"Where is Mary anyway? I thought she would be with you."

"She saw Jasper and decided that talking to him was more important than this."

"Those two are starting to annoy me."

Luke cut the stem of the daffodil rather forcibly before handing it to me to place in the wicker basket. Although I hadn't said it, I was inclined to agree with him. Ever since they first stepped out together, Mary and Jasper spent every fleeting moment together. Often, Mary would disappear when we were supposed to be working and reappear just before I completed the work. According to Luke, Jasper had been the same.

Since she had been so distracted, I had to work on the journal myself along with completing all of our chores so Mary wouldn't get into any trouble with Mrs Channing. It did mean, however, that by the time I could retire to bed, I was too tired to read any more of the journal. Mary didn't appear all that fussed and all she could talk about was how sweet Jasper had been; I was starting to get sick of it.

I was happy for her at first. She always wanted Jasper to notice her, but it was starting to get ridiculous. Anyone would have thought they were joined at the hip since they could barely go more than a few hours apart from one another.

"That should be enough," Luke said, handing me one last daffodil.

"Thank you, they're beautiful."

"Hm, my flower bed looks a little worse for wear, though."

I laughed. "I'm sure they'll recover."

"Did you know there's a well on the grounds?" Mary asked, appearing beside me. I shook my head. "Jasper just took me to see it. It's really deep and I think there's still water in it. He said no one had used it for years. Imagine having to get water from an old well." She shivered. "Are you done?"

"I think so."

"Excellent, let's go and put them in some water before they die."

Mary wrapped her arm over mine and smiled. I looked at Luke who rolled his eyes a little before burying himself in the flower bed to try and mend the damage caused by the occupants of the house wanting fresh flowers. With the basket swinging my arm, Mary and I returned to the house, entering through the side entrance.

The two of us set to work sorting the daffodils, trimming the stems, and placing them into vases of water to spread throughout the rooms. We had daffodils for the living room, Lord and Lady Richardson's bedroom, Lady Abigail's room, and one of the guest rooms which was to be prepared for a Lord and Lady Ainsworth. Guests added an additional workload and with Mary wandering off to see Jasper, I knew it would all fall to me.

We had just finished organising the daffodils when Mrs Channing entered the room with some letters in hand. Most of the letters went to Miss Ryan and they often contained recipes from other cooks, one or two letters went to Mr Serif and the rest of the servants were unlucky to receive any post at all. Those who had family beyond the walls of the house might receive a letter or two, but the rest of us received nothing.

"Mary, you have a letter," Mrs Channing said, handing Mary an envelope.

"It's from Molly." Mary turned the letter over.

"You can read it later, you have work to do."

"Yes, Mrs Channing."

Mary and I gathered up the vases and left the servants hall. We followed the back staircase to the upstairs and split up to place the vases into the various rooms until we just had the vase for the living left. Before we went downstairs, we stayed in the guest room a little while longer to allow Mary to read the letter. I hoped it might offer us a little more insight into Lady Catherine and who her suitor might have been.

"She thinks we should hand the journal to Lord Richardson as it is not ours to keep, although she is just as surprised as us at its contents. Apparently, she had no idea Lady Catherine had a suitor or an interest in any of the servants. She does remember Simon being interested in Lady Catherine, though. He spent an awful lot of time around him." Mary paused. "Isn't he a gardener?"

"I think so."

"There you go then, it's Simon. Molly also says that he's rather well-spoken and I seem to recall him being devastated by Lady Catherine's death. Mr Langdon gave him almost an entire week off in the aftermath because he was distraught. Mystery solved."

"I don't know. Simon just feels like the obvious choice."

"You've got your answer, Jane. Why push it even further? Don't you think it's time you moved on with your life? You've been obsessed with this journal for weeks now and you haven't figured anything out as of yet. You didn't even notice that Luke appears sweet on you."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he does. Just forget about the journal. You have your mysterious suitor, that's the end of it."

Mary shrugged and walked from the room, leaving me with the last vase of flowers and a thousand different questions running through my head. She may have been quick to accept Simon as the most likely suitor, but somehow, I didn't think that to be true. Yes, he was fairly well-spoken, but he was a shy boy who would turn red whenever a member of the household addressed him in any way. He certainly didn't appear the type to have an illicit affair with Lady Catherine.

I took the last vase and placed it in the living room. Mary had disappeared once again and she only reappeared a little while later for luncheon. She looked at me only once, her attention usually focused on Jasper, but she nudged her head towards Luke, who was sitting next to me as if trying to prove a point. I didn't care what she thought, there was nothing between myself and Luke.

Although I desperately wanted to talk to Simon about him potentially being Lady Catherine's suitor, I didn't get the chance. After luncheon, chores were to be completed and with Mary thinking about Jasper, I somehow ended up doing everything. By the time we had supper and were allowed to retire for the evening, I was exhausted.

Mary went off in search of Jasper whilst I changed into my nightdress and leant back against my pillows. All I could think about was Molly's letter and how she seemed to think Simon might have been the one Lady Catherine had been talking about. No matter how many times I tried to imagine it, I just couldn't do it. Simon was too nervous, too quiet. It couldn't be him.

I sat up and climbed out of bed, grabbing some ink and a pen. Even if I didn't believe the suitor to be Simon, I could still note it down in the journal. I lifted my mattress and reached underneath, feeling around for the corner of the journal, but it wasn't there.

Someone had taken it.

~~~

First Published - February 19th, 2022