Like a Surprise Gift
The rumor that Bill Remmer’s Leila had been invited to a party at the ducal residence spread swiftly among the servants of Arvis. At first everyone was baffled; in the end they all clicked their tongues. Anyone who had worked long at Arvis knew that Lady Brandt treated the pitiful Leila like her own little puppy.
“Just between us, I don’t know why all those noble masters have to be so cruel.”
The moment she heard the news, Mrs. Mona, the cook, stormed down to the cabin that very afternoon and fumed. For Bill Remmer, who had been resting a while out of the midday heat, it was a disaster dropped from a clear sky.
“They call it consideration, but how intimidated will the girl feel in a place like that?”
“Leila isn’t the sort to get intimidated by something like that. She can just show her face for a bit and come home.”
“Honestly. Men! You simply don’t understand a thing!”
When Mrs. Mona glared at him, Bill scratched the back of his neck and stubbed out his cigarette.
“I wish she could teach them a lesson this time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What else? Dress Leila up so prettily that her beauty puts those highborn young ladies’ noses out of joint.”
“No, we don’t need to go that far…”
“Look at you. Don’t tell me you were thinking of sending Leila to the party in her school uniform?”
What’s wrong with a school uniform?
As Bill looked completely lost, Mrs. Mona clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“Listen here, Bill Remmer. After all these years you’d think you’d know how to raise a daughter.”
“Daughter? Nothing of the sort. I’ve just been thinking about where to send the girl…”
“Yes, that thinking of yours. You’ll still be thinking on the day you marry Leila off, when she gives you grandchildren, and even lying in your coffin.”
“What? Marry off that little one? Listen to the nonsense you’re talking.”
Watching Bill flare up, Mrs. Mona’s lips curved more gently.
“And yet you still insist she isn’t your daughter. Men really are impossible to understand.”
“If you’re going to talk rubbish, then leave.”
“Let’s buy her a pretty dress to wear, Mr. Remmer. Like a surprise gift. She’s a girl too—won’t she be so happy?”
Mrs. Mona spoke with the force of an order.
“Leila isn’t the sort to ask for such things, and you’re not the sort to provide them on your own, so I have to step in. I’ll help.”
“…How, exactly?”
“You give me the money for the dress, and I’ll prepare it in your place.”
“Fine. Do as you like.”
Grumbling, Bill awkwardly went inside and came out with his money pouch. Distrustful of banks, he always kept his savings gathered in that pouch.
By the time Mrs. Mona had carefully collected not only the dress money but the cost of the shoes as well, Leila returned from the goat pen. The two hastily hid every trace of their transaction and pretended to be talking about something else entirely.
Leila offered a cup of tea, but Mrs. Mona waved her hands and left the cabin. In the meantime Bill skillfully hid the money pouch under his backside.
“Did Auntie scold you about me again? I haven’t been caught climbing trees lately.”
Sitting in the chair beside Bill, Leila asked worriedly.
“It’s nothing like that, so don’t go fretting over useless things.”
Bill cleared his throat and relit the cigarette he had put out earlier.
“Well, that’s a relief then.”
Smiling brightly, Leila took off her hat and leaned deep into the chair.
All summer long, every time he saw the straw hat Leila wore every day, Bill felt utterly content. Thinking how much prouder he would feel once she was dressed in a pretty gown made the money Mrs. Mona had extracted from him not seem a waste at all.
“Leila.”
When he suddenly called her name, Leila looked at him with clear eyes.
“What are you going to do? About that party at the ducal residence.”
“I plan to just stop by briefly, show my face, and come back. The Etmans were invited too, so I decided to go with Kyle.”
“Is that so? That freeloader is finally earning his keep for once.”
At the mention of Kyle’s name Bill felt a deep sense of relief. The boy might be a youngster who did nothing but eat up food, but at least he could be trusted.
“Even so, won’t you need things? Clothes to wear, and such.”
“It’s fine, Uncle.”
Leila smiled. It was the same smile he had seen since her childhood—so pure it always left Bill’s heart uneasy.
“Fine, my foot. Are you planning to go in your school uniform?”
“That wouldn’t be so bad either.”
Leila chuckled playfully. Her face looked so nonchalant that Bill found himself worrying all over again.
Have I really never known how to raise a daughter?
“No.”
Bill muttered to himself in sudden alarm.
Daughter? What daughter.
He shook his head firmly.
Leila looked at him with a bewildered expression. Seeing the glasses sparkling on her small face made his heart uncomfortable again.
Bill knew well the child’s heart that tried so hard not to be a burden, not to impose. He could understand it. And yet, never knowing how to comfort her, he always ended up saying only gruff words.
At any rate, the conviction that Mrs. Mona, though a bit overbearing, had done a rather excellent thing only grew firmer.
“Leila.”
Still, Bill tried once more to muster courage.
“…The weather is awfully hot.”
In the end he was right back where he started.
Finding his own useless words ridiculous, Bill just cleared his throat for no reason. Leila laughed aloud and gently took his hand where it rested on the arm of the chair.
Who was comforting whom?
Though he put on an indifferent expression, Bill could not shake off that small hand. Leila even smiled sweetly, as if something pleased her greatly. My, what a pretty smile the child had.
Leila awoke without tossing or turning once. Dawn was just beginning to break, and the room was filled with a clear, ink-blue darkness.
Lying still, Leila slowly took in her surroundings.
The familiar ceiling. The window with cream-colored curtains. The old desk. A few books spread open on it. Soft bedding that carried the faint scent of sunlight.
This is my room.
Only then, recognizing reality, did a sigh of relief escape her.
She had had a nightmare for the first time in a long while. Memories of the days when she had been left alone in the world, shunted from one relative’s house to another. Until she met Uncle Bill, every day had been close to a repeating nightmare, but the time she spent in the house that had instilled in her a fear of water remained especially deep and vivid.
“It’s all because of that girl!”
On the days he was drunk, her uncle by marriage never failed to vent his rage at Leila. When sober he was a timid, quiet man, but as far as Leila remembered, her uncle was drunk about five days a week. On days he lost money at the gambling dens he grew even more vicious, and without fail he would pour abuse on Leila and beat her.
She hated him. She detested him. But as an orphan with nowhere else to go, all Leila Lewellin could do was endure and bear it.
Leila tried desperately. She helped with the housework without a moment’s rest. She tried to eat only a little. She stayed as quiet as an object left in the corner. And yet, on the day she was finally driven from that house, her aunt handed her a paper bag with a few cookies in it. Gazing quietly at her aunt’s bruised face, Leila bowed and accepted it.
In the stagecoach heading to the next relative’s house where she would have to impose, Leila took out a cookie and ate it. The chocolate cookie was so delicious that her heart grew sad.
Even so, Leila did not cry. All the way to her destination she practiced smiling like a good child. The more she wanted to cry, the brighter she smiled. Because no one in this world likes a crying orphan. Through being driven out again and again, she seemed to have grown better and better at smiling.
But on the day she had to cross the border alone and come all the way to Berg, it did not work well. Young as she was, Leila knew that the single address she held in her hand was her last hope. She also knew that if she were abandoned this time as well, she would inevitably end up in an orphanage.
Still, she remembered the day she had smiled with all her might, the moment she met Uncle Bill’s eyes filled with warmth and compassion, the first step across the threshold of this room. She would never forget the day she gained a family again, a home she wanted to return to—perhaps for all eternity.
So everything is all right.
Comforting herself, Leila lightly rose and slipped out of bed.
The party at the ducal residence was tonight. It would be a lie to say she was unaffected, but she did not want to dwell on it deeply or cling to it. She would attend bravely, stay quietly, and leave—that was all.
Lady Claudine would not know. That Leila Lewellin would willingly do anything for Uncle Bill and this warm cabin.
Opening the window, Leila hurriedly washed her face and changed clothes. When she opened the door vigorously, she saw Uncle Bill ready to go out to work. Leila approached him with a bright smile.
“Let’s go together, Uncle!”
By afternoon the mansion had finished preparations to receive guests. It was a grand party, but for the servants of Arvis it was familiar work that could well be called part of their daily routine.
They carried out their respective duties skillfully from their posts. All that remained now was for the sun to set and the splendid party to begin. No one in Arvis worried about whether tonight’s party would succeed. Like everything under the name of Herhardt, this night’s party too would be perfect.
Matthias emerged from the dressing room clad in his evening coat. When he combed his hair back to reveal his forehead and brows, his impression grew a little colder. The faint smile at the corner of his lips could not soften the cool eyes and sharp facial lines.
“Everything has been carried out as you instructed, Master.”
Having dismissed the attendants, the butler Hessen reported quietly. Matthias took a cigarette and turned, lightly raising one eyebrow.
“They say he left about an hour ago, so the prepared items should have been delivered by now.”
“I see.”
Tipping his chin slightly, Matthias lit the end of the cigarette held between his lips.
“Well done.”
At the reply accompanied by a slight smile, Hessen bowed his head once more.
The news that Claudine had invited Leila Lewellin to the party had reached Matthias through his mother’s mouth. Praise for the kindhearted young lady who spread her mercy and kindness all around. Something of that sort, it seemed.
If left alone it would make for quite an amusing spectacle, so Matthias saw no need to oppose it. Leila would appear in a shabby state, and Claudine would freely bestow her pity and sympathy upon the girl.
Matthias thought he knew well what aspect of Leila Lewellin irritated Claudine. She was certainly a grating girl, and breaking that child’s pride was a considerably enjoyable thing.
That was why.
Knowing what Claudine wanted, he did not wish to give it to her. That pleasure had to be his. Matthias von Herhardt did not know how to share what was his with others.
“How shall we dispose of these items, Master?”
Hessen asked, pointing to the box left beside the unlit fireplace. It was the box containing the gift the cook had prepared in place of Bill Remmer.
The gift that had been scheduled for delivery to Bill Remmer’s cabin today had been moved here through Hessen. And through Hessen, the items Matthias had prepared had been transformed into Bill Remmer’s gift and delivered to the cabin.
Matthias slowly smoked his cigarette as he gazed at the box. Even without opening it, it was not difficult to guess what was inside.
“Throw them away.”
His command, flowing out with the cigarette smoke, was calm.