Time to Grow

“’Allo, there, deary,” she said in an overwhelmingly Scottish accent. “You’ll be the Madame’s guest, eh?”

“Si, yes. I’m Penelope. And you are?” She gave the woman a wavering smile, not exactly sure what to make of her.

“Just call me Gudren.” She smiled and winked before setting down the breakfast tray. “Now, Penelope ye say?. Hop on oot of bed so I can fit ye for your gown. Would not want your food to be getting cold, now would ye?”

Penny hesitated but decided she was too hungry to argue. Gudren expertly began to take her measurements, chatting away the whole while.

“You’ll be aboot Mademoiselle Caterina’s size, ye’ll be. She was mighty tiny, that one.” Gudren gave her a quizzical look. “You look a lot like her, I’ll have ye know. Ye both had eyes like mead and hair the color o’ molasses- curlier than a pig’s tail, I tell ye.” She let out a great guffaw. “You’re a smite darker skinned, tho’. You must be from the Spain now, eh?”

“Um.. sure...” Penny fought not to grimace at the pig’s tail remark. This woman is insane, she thought wearily. I can’t wait to get out of here.

“Pity, tho’, aboot the Mademoiselle,” the maid murmured, as though to herself.

“What do you mean?” There goes my curiosity again.

“It’s a might sad tale, it is. When Monsieur LeCroix passed away this last year, the Madame was blamed quite fiercely for his death. Witchery, they says. Black magics.” She snorted. “Quite ridiculous, if ye ask me. Well, the mademoiselle, she’s believin’ in what the people of Paris are saying and runs away. She says she canna live with a devil worshipper and what shame it brings upon her and the LeCroix name. Poor Madame, she has not been the same since. She misses her daughter a terror.” Gudren sniffed and wiped a stray tear from her eye. “But, she says, she’ll be joining her Thomas-that’s Monsieur LeCroix to ye- in Heaven and then all will be fine. Dinna know what she meant by tha’, but it gives me a might bad feeling in my heart.”

Penny absorbed this information in silence.

“Ye must forgive me, deary. I dinna mean to go into such a sorry tale. It’s not good to hear such unhappy things so early in the mornin’!” Gudren smiled and handed her a gown to put on. “No, we should speak of brighter things, ye and me.”

“Like what?”

“Like how ye’ve managed to snag our dear Galen from us old ladies, ye have! Now tha’s witchery if I ever seen it!” She laughed again, shoulders shaking in her mirth.

“But I don’t even know him! Nor does he know me.”

“Aye, it’s hard to know tha’ boy. He’s sweet as can be, tho’ not many can see past his difficulties. Devil child. Pssh!” She grunted in offense. “Ain’t no bettah boy than ‘im. He’s quite the worker, he is. He’s taken a load off me. I’m too old for most of this work. And he’d never hurt a fly. Poor child.”

“Difficulties?” And devil child? That doesn’t sound all that happy to me.

“Boy canna spake a thing. He’s mute, Madame says.” Gudren shook her head sadly. “We found him a few years back on the border of the city, bleeding and torn apart. His last masters had beaten ‘im to near death, they did. Madame and meself were on our way home from the market when we found ‘im and took ‘im back here. We was lucky we did, he was in such a bad shape. He was a might wary of us at first but he’s warmed up since then. Never once spoke a word, tho’. And people in the city think its just more of the Madame’s witchcraft.”

“That’s so sad. Did you ever find out who his previous.. masters were?”

Gudren finished lacing up the back of Penny’s gown and steered her to a mirror. “No. All we can do is hope that the boy will get better one day and find his voice again. That’s all we can ask for. I think Madame LeCroix is praying tha’ ye’ll be the one to help ‘im. Well, there ye go, deary. Its a purty fit, this gown. You look lovelier than Mademoiselle Caterina did, but dinna let the Madame know that.” She patted the girl on the shoulder and smiled approvingly.

Penny nodded appreciatively at Gudren, admiring the wine-colored gown and floor-length belled sleeves. “Thank you. I do like the dress very much.”

“It’s no problem! Now you eat, and when ye finish, Galen and the Madame will be waiting down the staircase for ye. Dinna keep them waiting, especially the boy.” She winked, a deviant smile playing about her lips and left Penny to her meal.

Though her food was already cold, she was too hungry and managed to eat it with such gusto that she finished in little time. Before heading downstairs, she grabbed her necklace, not wanting to leave anything behind when she returned home, and then took the steps two at a time. Madame LeCroix stood at the bottom with the young man from last night, Galen.

LeCroix gave her a sad smile, as if she were seeing a lost loved one. “Vous paraissez charmant dans cette robe,” she said, but then remembering that Penny couldn’t understand French, translated for her. “You look lovely in that dress. Forgive me.” She turned to Galen and gave him a slight nudge in the young girl’s direction. “This is Galen, the young man who brought you to us. Galen, this is Penny.”

Galen gave her a small smile and bowed slightly, making a lock of black hair fall free from it’s leather tie. She reached forward and brushed it back behind his ear.

“Hi,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you. Madame LeCroix said you’d be able to take me back to the field where you found me, if its not too much trouble?”

His smile broadened and he looked to LeCroix as if seeking approval.

“Its all right, dear. Go on.”