Chapter 39
***
A few days later, Louise summoned one of her new maids and asked.
"You asked for an advance on your salary?"
The child trembled as if she had committed a great sin just by being called by her mistress.
"Oh, no, it's all right, I only asked because the maids asked me to have a word with the head maid........ it's all right, really!"
Louise shook her head.
"Pauline asked you to speak to the head maid? May I ask why you wanted to be paid in advance?"
"That's------."
The child paused, then said in a very small voice.
"I want to get .................. medicine. I have a sick brother in the almshouse, and when I went there yesterday, he got worse."
Louise asked, puzzled.
"But when I visited last week, we gave them some medicine to keep on hand...."
The child hesitated for a moment longer, but then spoke with determination.
"Everything we get at the almshouse isn't completely free, ma'am. You have to work to get them, and my siblings are young, and one of them is sick, so they can't work."
She threw up her hands and added hastily.
"So it's not that I don't want to come here, I'm very grateful for it, and I'll be able to buy some medicine, and I'll have hope that it’ll get better and better, and I don't mind if I don't get paid in advance, ma'am!"
But despite the child's bubbly demeanor, Louise's emerald eyes were sunken.
"So what you're saying is, not everything people get from the almshouse is free?"
The child paled, wondering if she had made a mistake.
"Well, the Bible says to work day and night, not to owe anyone anything..................."
But Louise didn't think it was a proverb directed at the child and the patients. She looked at the maid, who was at a loss for words, and gave her two silver coins.
"Your story reminded me of what I need to do. This is the award for the story, please use it to pay for your brother's medicine."
"What? How can you give me so much.................."
"Because your story helped me that much, so don't worry about anything else."
The child bowed again and again.
Louise barely managed to tear her gaze away from the child, who seemed to be a blast from her past, before turning to Pauline.
"Would you like to tell me more about your time at the Inns?"
It was time to move on from the past and move forward. To do that, she had to straighten out the hierarchy of the mansion that was messed up.
Starting with the maids.
And the almshouse seemed like the perfect first stop for her.
******
A few days later, the workhouse.
A chill breeze wafted through the padded boards of the old wooden building. Children, elderly women, and freshly minted mothers huddled together inside, sheltering from the cold.
Louise had obviously been there last week, delivering supplies and aid, but she didn't notice any difference.
"Kolok, Kolok, Kolok!"
Even the occasional coughing fit here and there was the same.
"One dime, one dime..................."
Louise walked right past the beggars clutching their ankles.
Verena, the head maid, followed her with a troubled look on her face.
"Madam, please, one penny..................."
The almshouse’s head had been vacant for a long time, and Verena had been doing it for years, but never on a weekly basis like this.
A child burst into tears. Verena looked as if she would rather cover her ears, but Louise's voice was calm.
"We need to see the priest in charge."
Verena was dumbfounded, wondering why she was walking among the poor.
Meanwhile, a nearby child ran to fetch the priest.
Louise bowed respectfully before the priest, but almost as soon as she had straightened herself, she spoke.
"I came today to see how the supplies we provided you last week are being used, but I think we've given you enough medicine, and the coughing in the almshouse has only gotten worse."
Beside her, Verena's eyes widened in surprise.
The almshouse belonged to the Diocese of Burg, and the priest in charge was in charge of the entire operation. So it would have seemed impious for the Countess to question the priest about a few coins in subsidies.
The priest was also uncomfortable with Louise's unfamiliar demeanor.
"Well, taking a pill doesn't cure you right away......"
But Louise wasn't here to hear excuses, and this time she turned her attention to the ceiling of the almshouse.
The ramshackle ceiling had once been chipped and was now roughly painted in a grayish color. On her last visit, she could hear the wind whistling through it.
"I went back and looked up your grant history, and I see that we gave you a grant earlier this year to renovate the building, but I'm a little concerned about the condition of the roof, so I was wondering if you could tell me what work was done with that grant?"
The priest suddenly looked a little embarrassed.
"Well, we actually received a grant to repair the roof, but as the day progressed, there were more pressing matters.................."
Without waiting for the priest to finish, Louise declared.
"From now on, we won't be paying you again for grants that aren't used as promised."
The priest's mouth dropped open in disbelief, as did the head maid, Verena.
But Louise, being the wife of the Margrave, was determined to set things right in a way that her hired help could not.
She's determined to restore the countess's fallen reputation and help the poor at the same time.
Caius would not stand aside and watch the absurdity of the situation repeat itself out of respect for the priest.
Louise looked the priest in the eye and continued.
"There are several almshouses nearby, it is said to be the largest, but we can't keep pouring water on the poison that has been drained out of the Burg forever."
No matter how one heard it, it sounded like a threat.
Perhaps the priest was angry, she thought, but he quickly changed his demeanor and began to make excuses.
"Well, actually, the priest in charge changes so often................."
Then, reluctantly, he promised.
"I, ma'am, will be sure to use the money as planned in the future."
"That's very kind of you to say, Priest."
Louise looked him in the eye and added,
"God has said that he who does not work, shall not eat; but before that, he has also told us to stretch out our hands to the needy and poor."
Having said that, he bowed deeply and begged.
"I ask you to show mercy to the poor, at least as far as the distribution of medicines is concerned."
The priest paused for a moment, then blushed and bowed as deeply as Louise.
"The lady is right."
Beside him, Verena pressed her lips together as if at a loss for words.
***
There was a strange silence in the return carriage. It was Louise who spoke first.
"Oh, I have something to tell you."
Verena bowed her head politely, uncharacteristically.
"Go ahead, ma'am."
It was almost as if she was trying to raise her opinion of Louise a bit after what had happened at the workhouse.
But Louise had no intention of stopping there.
"I'm not pregnant."
Verena sucked in a surprised breath at her bombshell, then looked around wildly to see if the coachman had heard.
"Yes, ma'am. You can still...................."
She didn't expect her to bring it up first. For a maid who was used to ignoring the myriad rumors of the mansion as if she hadn't heard them, she was quite sensitive.
Louise made eye contact with Verena, who was trying to avoid the subject.
"Of course, Verena, but there is a strange rumor circulating among the hired help: that His Excellency has taken me into his bedchamber before marriage......."
"Oh, my God, that’s outrageous!"
Verena was now wringing her hands.
Louise sighed slightly at the rather trivial response. She wondered if she'd let her hired help get away with so much when she didn't feel confident enough to have this conversation with her.
"His Excellency has never done that, so will you make sure that no one else is overheard spreading such rumors in the future?"
***
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Write a comment
Seayon (Wednesday, 21 August 2024 21:14)
Hehe, you gooo Louise <3
Thank you for the translation :)