"You are not going," her mother enunciated each word carefully.
"Of course I'm going. You heard Papa just now about the vicar and the gossip."
"Yes, I did. And he makes a good point. But if there are no opportunities for you or your sister, I fail to see the benefit."
Mariah could not believe what she was hearing but she knew that this was a delicate situation and one which required careful handling.
"The benefit, mother, is that I will do such a good job with the library that Mr. Haverton is sure to be pleased and call on me to thank me."
Mariah saw no sense in informing her mother that it sounded like the man wouldn't know manners if they ran over him with a chaise and four.
"Then, not only will you be the first acquaintance of his in the entire village, excluding Mr. Yates and Mr. Thompson but—"
"Who is Mr. Thompson?" enquired Lilly suddenly, possibly sensing fresh meat.
"The solicitor who has lived in the village since before you were born," said Mariah. "Honestly Lilly, how can you not know him?"
Lilly shrugged and went back to her dinner, once again uninterested in the conversation.
"As I was saying Mama, we would be the first family to know him. And from what Mrs. Yates said about his desire to be sociable, we will quite possibly be the only family to know him."
Mariah waited with bated breath for her mother to weigh up her words.
Finally, Mrs. Bolton sighed and said; "Very well. I do not suppose you can back out now that you've agreed."
Mariah thanked her profusely and pretended to believe that the decision was based on a magnanimous nature and not a desire to have one up on Mrs. Callahan and the other town gossips.
With the matter settled, Mariah quickly changed the subject just in case her mother suddenly changed her mind again. But thankfully, there was no reversal of the decision.
As Mariah readied herself for bed that night, she did not even attempt to still the butterflies of excitement in her stomach.
For once, she would be doing something exciting and adventurous all by herself. She could not wait.
CHAPTER TWO
Mariah pulled her woollen cloak more firmly around her shoulders and hunched over against the biting December wind.
Her father's gig was extremely handy for traversing the often bumpy country roads surrounding their village. But it was no use against the inclement weather of a Lancashire winter.
Her mother had almost had a fit of the vapours that morning when Mariah announced she would go alone to the Manor.
Mariah had managed to calm her down with careful explanations that it was only servants at the house at present; they all knew her anyway so her reputation wasn't in any danger and, mostly, by slipping something into her teacup, though Mariah did not confess to this.
It was nothing dangerous. Just enough to make her happily drowsy until Mariah made her escape.
As she crested a small hill, Mariah pulled to a halt.
There it was. Greywood Manor.
The house was a magnificent structure of stone brought up from London, if the gossips were correct. The baron who had commissioned it wanted it to stand out next to the local yellow brick. And stand out it did.
It was made of a grey stone but rather than seem dull, it was so large and beautifully situated that the stone could never have looked anything less than beautiful.
The grounds surrounding the manor house were nowhere near as extensive as those of the estates close by but they were vast and verdant, the evergreens lushly dark against the cool winter sky.
Even if she hadn't been lucky enough to be working in the library, Mariah would have been ecstatic to be here and made a promise to herself to explore every inch of land when she had a break to do so.
But right now, time was ticking. She had risen at first light, determined to finish before Mr. Haverton arrived.
Mariah was difficult to intimidate but Mrs. Yates' description of her mysterious employer left her feeling that she would rather not meet him until she absolutely had to. And certainly not before she had done an excellent job with the library.
Pulling up to the front of the magnificent house, Mariah looked up and spotted a groom coming towards her.
She could not see the man's features from this distance, but good heavens, he looked to be a fine specimen of manhood indeed!
His gait was strong and sure and he was tall, so very tall.
Mariah wasn't exactly tiny and in actual fact was rather taller than a lot of the men her age in the village. But this giant of a man would surely tower over her.
And his shoulders! Mariah's mouth dried up as she took in the breadth of his shoulders and her eyes raked greedily over the rest of him.
His clothing was dark and nondescript, although, she admitted to herself, he wasn't in the usual attire of a groom. In fact, he was ever so well dressed for a groom but he certainly wasn't dressed as a gentleman.