A TWIST OF FATE
Chapter Eight

"Pansy. Go and answer the door" Mrs. Hunter the cook shouted at the scullery maid. Pansy dropped the pan she was scrubbing and went to answer the door.

A young man stood there. He pulled off his cap and a mop of blonde hair fell out from underneath. Pansy noticed his deep blue eyes and blushed. She remembered what Mrs. Hunter had told her to say if she ever answered the door.

"Can I help you Sir?" she repeated slowly.

"I have a parcel for Mrs. Rose Hockley" the young man thrust out a tube of brown paper. Pansy took it suspiciously. "What is it?" she asked, forgetting her manners.

"PANSY!" a voice bellowed from within.

"Oh sorry Sir!" she blushed even redder.

"You will promise you'll see Miss Rose gets it?" the young man asked with pleading eyes.

"Course I will" smiled Pansy.

"Thank you" said the young man. He paused, almost as if he were going to say something else, but then he turned and went.

Pansy went back into the kitchen.

"Who was it?" Mrs. Hunter asked, turning away from the pots she was watching on the stove.

"I don't know" Patsy said sheepishly. "I forgot to ask."

"You forgot to ask!" Mrs. Hunter started to shout. She was a small plump woman with a very loud voice. "You are so stupid, I ought to send you back to the orphanage. Why do I let the footman leave the kitchen eh? You don't answer the door again. Do you understand?"

Lovejoy sat at the kitchen table having a drink. From his position at the head of the table he could see who came up to the door. He had watched the young blonde man come to the door and listened to the conversation between Cook and Pansy.

"Pansy, bring the parcel here" he demanded. Pansy was more afraid of Lovejoy than anyone else she could think of. She brought the roll to the kitchen table and stood there. "Well go back to your work then." He ordered.

When she had gone Lovejoy untied the string and unwrapped the drawings. The note fell out first. Lovejoy read it, then looked at the pictures. They were very good, he thought. He recognized the drawing of the Titanic. The other one he wasn't sure of. It was of a young girl with long curly hair sitting at a café table with an ice cream. Odd subject for a picture, he concluded. He wrapped them all up again and went to find Trudy.

"Here," he handed the parcel to her. "This came for Miss Rose, please see she gets it."

Rose, Ruth and Cal were in the drawing room. Trudy knocked on the door. Cal shouted for her to enter.

"Excuse me Sir, Ma'am, I have a parcel for Miss Rose." She handed the pictures to Rose.

Rose unwrapped the parcel. She read the note and turned to Cal who was watching.

"Oh darling, it's just some drawings I ordered for my gallery."

"Damned drawings," mused Cal. He turned to Ruth and jokingly said "I blame you for her obsession for art."

"I assure you Cal, her obsession for art does not come from me." Replied Ruth.

"I'll take these to my gallery, please excuse me" Rose left the room. When she was in her gallery and the door closed, she hurriedly unwrapped the parcel properly to see what was in it. She saw the Titanic drawing first, but it was the second one which excited her and made her cry at the same time. It was a drawing, almost accurate, of herself at the same age as the little girl Jack drew, eating an ice cream, just as she did with her Daddy

Chapter Nine
Stories