CHAPTER TWO

From the beginning, I had good and bad feelings about the job. Sometimes I thought that it had been foolish of me to accept. I especially felt this way while traveling to the children's home that first day. But my mood became brighter the further I got away from the city. When we finally arrived at the house, I remembered being happy with what I saw. I had planned for the place to be very lonely and sad. However, it looked very cheerful from the outside and I could see two seemingly friendly house cleaners watching as our carriage approached. The garden was beautiful and well taken care of. After getting out of the carriage, I was met at the front door by a woman with a little girl standing next to her. They were both extremely polite.

I was happy for the whole evening. I met Flora, the younger of the two children. She was very sweet and extremely pretty. It surprised me that the young man who interviewed me had not mentioned anything about her prettiness.

When they showed me my bedroom, I could not believe the size of it. It was huge! I had never seen such a comfortable and luxurious room in my life. And now it was mine to enjoy on my own.

It was good to see that the head housekeeper, Mrs Grose, was very friendly. I had been worried that we might not get along. However, I was surprised by how happy she seemed to be that I had come. It was as though she felt easier somehow. I chose not to think much about it. I was too happy with everything else to let it bother me.

When I went to bed, the little girl's beauty gave me something to look forward to the next morning. I planned to get out of bed very early and enjoy the view from my window. That night, however, I found myself listening to the silence within the house. It was difficult for me to sleep, because several times I thought I could hear all kinds of things: a child crying in the distance, a gentle footstep outside my door. Eventually, I grew tired, and managed to fall asleep.

The next day, I woke up excited to begin my work and take care of Flora. I even talked with her about having her bed moved to my bedroom. In fact, I wanted very much to completely replace Mrs Grose as her caregiver. The little girl was quite shy, however, so we decided to give her time to get used to me. I was certain that she would like me very much. And Mrs Grose seemed pleased and proud of the way that I admired the young girl.

"What about her brother? Is he just as beautiful and sweet?" I asked.

"Oh yes. He's just as wonderful and charming," she replied, looking proudly at the girl eating across from us at the dinner table.

"My goodness! I hope that I don't too easily fall in love with these children. It's my habit, you know. Anyway, I hear that the boy is supposed to return home from school tomorrow."

"No. He'll be here on Friday."

"Oh! Then I shall plan to meet him with his little sister when he arrives. Would he like that?" I asked.

Mrs Grose thought that this was a wonderful idea. She and I seemed to think almost perfectly alike. I could tell that she was happy to have me in the house.

The following morning, I found myself feeling nervous and uncomfortable. The house was so large and unfamiliar to me. I guessed that it would take quite a long time to get used to. Along with these feelings, I also felt proud to have gotten this job and looked forward to beginning the children's lessons. The idea then came to me to have Flora give me a tour of the home and surrounding area. In this way, I thought, we could get to know one another better.

She was very happy to be my guide. I got to know every room and hiding place in the house. And just as I had hoped, we became good friends almost immediately. Following her around, I was surprised by how little fear she felt when entering dark, empty rooms and hallways. I certainly would have feared them on my own. The result was that I ended up feeling as though I were in a huge castle, much larger and more interesting and beautiful than any other mentioned in children's books. And, yet, now when I think about it, it was just an unattractive, old home.

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