Tales from the Neighbourhood, Part Two
June 13th, 2007
The d’Aubergé’s house lay very remotely in the British countryside, with a gigantic garden encircling it, akin to a maze. The two d’Aubergé daughters loved playing in this garden in summer time, and one of my duties as a maid was, of course, to clean up after them. For although the two girls were old enough to be tidy themselves – one was 17, the other 19 – they took great pleasure in making me run after them, laughing mischievously at me falling over in my high heels in the soft grass. In fact, the girls were quite the villainous types, and the following tale is but one example of how they played with and tormented me.
It was one bright summer afternoon, and Madame d’Aubergé called her daughters out into the garden for tea. Because I had carelessly spilled some soup in the morning, Madame had made me wear iron manacles on my feet for the rest of the day. This, coupled with the heels and the grass, made my walk extremely awkward, so I proceeded with great care. Carrying out the tray with the tea, I watched the two girls, lying on a white blanket on the grass, making jokes about me. My predicament saddened me, but one thing comforted me, and that was Madame’s impartial discipline. For while I was manacled, the girls were wearing white corsets, laced up very tightly. Madame wanted to make sure that they learned how to move and sit gracefully in the open nature.