Second Look - A Victorian Romance ch. 2

Chapter Two
Reconciliation



On the second day of the return of the Richmans, panic filled the air. Some were sent to look for Miss Angeline McKean in the acres behind the manor while others were sent into town to look for her. While most were out of the manor, Mrs. Richman spent her time, walking back and forth in front of Darold’s bedchamber. She wept, shouted, and banged at the firmly closed door, begging for her son to unlock the door.

After two hours of echoing the manor with her pounding, Darold coldly told his mother to leave him alone. She cried harder. “But I am your mother, Darold. Miss Angeline is gone and here you are, locked in a room alone. Come out and let your mother know that you‘re all right.”

He did not answer her of course. His mother listened for a moment and continued banging at his door.

Shortly after, Mr. Richman appeared, but instead of condemning her, he watched her as she returned a distressful face. Her tears became fuller upon seeing her dear husband watching her suffer. She let out a sorrowful cry and found Mr. Richman embracing her softly.

His sudden touch faintly relieved her from going insane as he drew her away from the door. He uttered for his dear wife to give their son some times. Mrs. Richman hesitated and called for Darold again. He hurriedly shushed her.

“Darold,” Mr. Richman called when Mrs. Richman cried into his chest. “Listen well. If Miss Angeline does not come back by nightfall, I’m going to send news to the officers and her family in Boston. I advise you to come out and look for her as well before things get worse.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Richman!” Mrs. Abbot called from downstairs. “We’ve found her!” Pleased to hear such great news, Mr. Richman lead his wife downstairs.

“Where did you find her?” the master asked.

“Mr. Akins said that he found her sitting at the bridge 8 miles west from here,” Mrs. Abbot explained. “She claimed she was just taking her morning walk, but she was holding her luggage as if she’s leaving here without a word.”

“Where is she now?!” Mrs. Richman cried and Mrs. Abbot quickly told her that Miss Angeline is waiting in the sitting room. She did not hesitate, but ran toward the room Miss Angeline awaited.

When she did laid her eyes upon the young lady sitting with her hands knotted together and uneasiness conquering her, Mrs. Richman let out a cry and hugged the poor lady. Miss Angeline too, cried.

While both of them cried in the sitting room, Mr. Richman questioned Mrs. Abbot if everyone knew Miss Angeline came back safely. She answered that everyone went their own ways to find her and will probably not return until nightfall. He then asked her where Rosema could’ve been, but she did not know what exactly to answer.

Mr. Richman gazed at the window and then back at his wife and their guest. His gaze fell upon the white lilacs in the nearby flower vase.

It was four hours later when the women had calm down and several came back home. Dinner was already being prepare. Miss Angeline just finished taking a bath and exited her bedchamber when she noticed the next door had been slightly slinked open. She watched the door for a moment and decided to part away. She abruptly was stopped by someone holding onto her wrist. To her astonishment, the owner of the hand that beheld her was Darold himself.

“You‘re pale,” she muttered.

“You were trying to leave without a word,” Darold started. She did not answer immediately. Darold ran his finger through his fair hair nervously and rubbed his dark circles formed beneath his eyes. “…. I will get you on the ship back to Boston soon…. Please don’t do such a ridiculous thing again.”

“…..You really have no desire to see me?” Miss Angeline inquired.

“….If I didn‘t wish to see you, I wouldn’t have brought you to Paris with me,” Darold returned. Miss Angeline breath stopped upon hearing his kind words once again. Though it was only for a day, she felt that Darold had distant himself from her for a very long time. She wanted to speak, but there was something lurking inside her that prevented her from saying anything.

“There’s something I must tell you,” Darold resumed. “Something I must tell you to clarify that Rosema was not the one who caused me to lose my arm.”

Miss Angeline stared at him in ouzzlement. “What are you trying to say?”

Darold returned a look of discomfort. “If I don’t tell you now, you will never understand why I’ve acted like this ever since I lost my arm…. Once I tell you…. I hope you will decide if you’re clear about loving a man like me.”

“I fell in love with you and will never change,” she stated firmly. “Whatever you need to tell me will not change the way I feel, now and forever.”

Darold looked at her for a very long time and then held her hand. He came closer to her and kissed her pleasantly on the forehead. “I will tell you everything, but not here.”





“Miss Angeline!” Rosema shouted once more before tripping over a rock and tumbled downhill. It was that sudden thump that regained her consciousness. She looked around and back, realizing how far away the garden was. It suddenly struck her that she had no other light to further her search in the dark beside the dim moonlight and stars. As she recovered herself and tried to walk back to Soave Maine, she felt a minor ache on her leg. It was at that moment when she looked down and noticed a bush of flowers already in bloom. Her eyes followed them. It was a trail of flower bushes; golden roses. They appeared big and neon in the dark. Though they were only simple, elegant flowers, Rosema was enthralled by them; perhaps hypnotized.

Her heart raced with an unexplainable beat as she followed the trail deeper and farther away from the way back to Soave Maine.

She thought she heard Larick’s voice ringing in her ears that made her raised her head several times to search the empty spaces. “My father forbid me to trespass someone’s property,” she heard Larick’s voice replayed in her head. “He said it is a crime; why yes it is. If a man of my rank is found in a place like this, he will be dead!” Rosema touched the falling petal of one of the flower as she continued following the trail. “Do you possibly think I should stop coming here? I know! I will make a path for you! If you are ever able to go pass the garden or somehow lost your way, the marks will lead you to me!”

She stopped where the last bush was planted. It stopped at a point of nowhere, probably unfinished. Her mind wondered again whether she was imagining the words or was it really Larick speaking to her. “I’m here….” she uttered under her breath, convinced that the trail was made by Larick. “….Where are you?” She expected no answer and kept her eyes on the roses. She stroked the golden petals and then the young leaves.

It was just her and the yellow roses; her speaking to them with an unknown language and the touch that not even thorns could pierce. But, it wasn’t until she felt something behind her. A weight hoarded over her and cold fingers wrapping around her small wrist. The hand pulled her and slammed her against the nearby tree.

Everything happened so fast that she did not have a second to think of fear until she was greeted by a malicious smirk and gray eyes that flickered in the dark.

She pulled back, recognizing the tall figure before her. However, she was once again caged between his arm. She pushed him with all her might, but resulted being held keenly by the neck. She gasped for air, to breathe, but failed. The sound of his boisterous laughter tolled from her ears and then conquering every inch of her body. She could not move as he lowered his face toward her and tightened his grip around her neck.

“Ah,” he goaded. “Am I not fortunate to find the most hated fiend alone in a bare place like here?” He laughed malevolently. His cold fingers stiffened around her neck, pushing her upward against the tree. “Bloody, you really amuse me… Tonight…. I will murder you in a slow and painful way that you wish you had never ever live.”


Her breathing became smaller and her body became weaker as she was once again crushed into the tree, breaking off the barks with her back. For a moment when she saw the face of the man strangling her, a familiar guilt suddenly came back to her. She no longer feel the suffocating pain, but a throbbing sting through her chest.

It wasn’t because she knew who the man was, but it was because maybe it was Larick who’s killing her. Suddenly, Rosema no longer saw the silvery brown hair nor the cold gray eyes, but long black hair and a pair of brown eyes watching her. His colorless lips stretched into a smile.

“Are you afraid to die?” the deep voice broke her vision of Larick and revealed that the man before her was Syd Richman. She stared at him, tracing his long thin face. Finally, she met his eyes and stared at them, forgetting the fear they usually bring when she look into them.

At last, she closed her eyes and remained still, waiting for her last breath. She was contented that she will die tonight , but was somehow disappointed that she will die with unfinished duties for the Richmans and a debt that she vowed to pay with her life. A debt that she should pay off by also protecting the broken Darold and reuniting the sweet innocent love between Darold and Angeline McKean.

Rosema coughed one last time. She no longer feel the suffocation nor the pain in her chest nor the cold hard fingers that wrapped around her neck. Her body began to drift in thin air and then her every senses became nothing, but a thick sheet of darkness.

“There’s a child under the bridge, sir! Must we stop to help her?

“No. Just continue onto our destination.”

“Husband, she’s dying! We have to save her!”

“ Oh Mrs. Richman, you’re speaking as if you’re so pure-hearted toward a mere child.”

“I don’t care what you think of me, but I’m going to save her.”

“Fine, do as you please. I will not stop you. Mr. Akins, do as your lady ordered. We’ll take that child to the nearby clinic.”

“Rosema?” the voice echoed in her ears as she stirred from the light beaming onto her face. Her head felt heavier than ever as she tried to open her eyes. It was a blurry sight, but she managed to make out an image of Mrs. Richman. Then, it was Darold and Angeline.

“She’s awake, Mother!” Darold exclaimed like an amateur child. “Rosema, Rosema, Rosem-”

“Quiet! She’s still weak and your voice cause even greater damage!” Mrs. Richman returned. Darold nodded his head in understanding and lowered his voice. Then, he smiled down at Rosema.

Rosema groaned and tried to move her arm, but could not find the strength to do so. Everyone urged her to remained still and rest until she recovered.

“Where…..Am I?” Rosema questioned in confusion.

“You’re safe now,” Mrs. Richman returned with relief in her voice.

“How….” Rosema wanted to know when she felt that she had died. Suddenly, a heavy weight weighed upon her as she realized that she was still alive. At that very second, Rosema wanted to cry out of anger and despair, but the presence of Mrs. Richman in tears and a smiling Darold united with Miss Angeline McKean prevented her to do so.

“You were saved by Frey Hobley,” Darold answered her. “He claimed that he was passing through the forest as a shortcut from his game of hunting and found you. If it wasn’t for him, who knows what that menacing beast would’ve done to you fortnight ago.”

“…Beast?” Rosema repeated and tried to recalled what happened.

“Exactly, Frey saved you before you were torn apart by that dreadful wolf,” Darold glanced at Angeline. “If we weren’t in the garden, Frey wouldn’t be able to identify who you were….And we would’ve been worry sick if you’ve gone missing too.”

Rosema closed her eyes again. Their voices continued conversing about Frey Hobley, thanking him for his heroic deeds and relieves that Rosema survived. However, they did not know that Rosema wished she had die that night and that the only thing she recalled now was his face haunting her and the sound of his laugh as he watched her die. She dare not say that he was there as well.




Rosema remained resting in her bedchamber for the next two days with the company of Angeline McKean. She was far more different than before as if something good happened to her. She became kinder toward Rosema in a very odd way. Rosema wasn’t sure whether it was because her arm was severely injured and was almost shredded by a wolf that made Angeline regretted saying words of hatred toward her or was it because Rosema was partially disabled at the moment that she felt she must show kindness. Whichever was the reason, Rosema did not try to question her because she care little if Angeline hate or like her. She just wanted Angeline and Darold to return to their innocent love.

As if Angeline could read her motionless movements and her mind, she suddenly opened the window and sat there, watching Rosema. Poor girl did not know how to react to her incautious action to sit carelessly on an opened window two stories high. Before she could say anything, Angeline smiled cynically at her.

“…..I wished to take back my childish words I said to you earlier,” she began. “I shouldn’t judge you before I even get to know you, understand what kind of situation it really was…”

“….You don’t have to apologize because I ridiculously got injured,” Rosema glanced at her bandaged arm. “In fact….There’s no reason for you to do so…..”

“No!” Angeline McKean screeched and stood up from the window sill. “I introduced myself in the most inappropriate way by pointing finger at you. And I did not forced myself to apologize to you because you were almost kill…..I just wanted you to know…..That I don’t dislike you…..And I wished we can reconcile for a friendlier term….”

Rosema remained speechless. Finally, she smiled bitterly. “…..I wished to be a companion of yours, Miss Angeline McKean.” Recognizing the speech as a reconciliation, Angeline cheerfully jumped up and down and scrambled to hug Rosema tightly. Angeline began to cry and Rosema soon learned that she was childish and easily cry for anything. She began talking about the womanly matters of their friendship and soon lead to her accidentally revealed that Darold had proposed to her.

Surprised, Rosema insisted for her to be particular about it. She was reluctant to do so, asserting that Darold wanted it to be a secret until the upcoming ceremony. However, she simply slipped out that Darold proposed to her at the garden on the night that Rosema was attacked. Quickly, Angeline began talking about Frey Hobley.

“Enough, if I further more, Darold will be very mad at me for spilling out our secret. I say, we talk about Mr. Frey Hobley.” Angeline smiled.

“I heard Mr. Frey Hobley will be at the upcoming ceremony when your arm is heal. I urged you to meet him. He’s a gentleman of good look and good reputations. Darold said they were schoolmates when they were younger. Both of them were taught by the same tutor.”

“….I should thank him formally,” Rosema stated though she had no interest in getting personal with him according to Angeline’s enhancement of his great features.

As Angeline continued talking about Frey Hobley, a carriage pulled by the front iron gates of Soave Maine. The passenger was immediately greeted by Mr. Akins as the door opened and a lofty lad of fine body structure stepped out of the carriage. He was a lad of red hair, slightly curling around his earlobes and twinkled his deep jaded eyes with a flirtatious sentiment as he kissed the summer air and treaded down from the steps.

“It is a pleasure to see you,” Mr. Akins greeted and motioned for him to enter the gates. However, Frey remained standing at the gates and then smiled at him.

“I have not send words of my coming and I rather wait until the day of the party, but thank you for being kind toward my intrusion. However, I was just strolling nearby and thought I must hear words of the lass who got injured the other night.”

“Do you not think it rude to appear and not say a word to your dear friend?” They heard Darold’s voice and turned to find a smiling Darold behind them. Frey can only laugh as they shook hands and Mr. Akins left them to their conversation.

“I cannot find it rude if I came here uninvited,” Frey studied the house before him. “This place have not change much since I last came here.”

Darold followed his observations. “It haven’t change much….I shall thank you again for saving Rosema. If you weren’t there, who knows what would’ve happen to my big sister.”

Frey turned to him with puzzlement. “ Big Sister? I thought Syd is your only sibling? When have I not learn that you have an older sister?”

Darold chuckled. “I only addressed her as my sister because my mother desired a daughter….” he paused. “My parents tried adopting her into the family, but she refused. However, everyone still treat her as a Richman. Eh, why don‘t you come inside for a cup of tea?”

Frey studied the manor again and then pushed his silver spectacles upward. “I’m aware that Miss Rosema is still recovering. I desired to introduce myself in a manlier manner if you wouldn’t mind.”

Darold pulled back with a suspicious look and narrowed his eyes. “Are you afraid of my father?” Frey left out a laugh and immediately, Angeline peeked out the window and pulled back as fast as she can.

“Rosema!” she exclaimed. “Mr. Frey Hobley’s at the front gate right now! You have to see him before he leaves!” Rosema remained tranquil, but was forcefully pulled out of bed toward the open window.

“W-wait!” Rosema protested, but it was already too late. As she looked down and found Frey looking straight into her eyes, her heart leapt. She felt herself panicked, wishing that he did not take it the wrong way to think that she wanted to peek at him. Quickly, she vanished as Angeline followed her. Upon Rosema disappearing from the window, Frey looked away and took off his spectacles from his nostril. He began cleaning the glasses and putting them back on.

“Darold, you have the most evil thoughts right now. I am afraid of your father, but it shouldn’t be said in such a careless way on your own ground. But, I refused to come in only because I have not send words of my coming. I did not expect myself to come here either. But, I‘m afraid I must leave now. If I stay any longer, the rest will discover my presence and will force me to stay longer than I wanted to.”

Darold sighed. “As you wish. I will not force you stay against your wish. But, please remember to be here on the day of the ceremony. Everyone would be delighted to see you…. And you can introduce yourself properly to Rosema.”

Frey slightly nodded in understanding and climbed up his carriage.

“One more thing,” Darold walked toward the carriage. “My brother had return….. I ought you pay him a visit sometimes.”

“Really?” Frey sounded surprise upon hearing Syd had return after 15 years. “What great news and you waited for me to depart to tell me this?!”

Darold stared at Frey sternly. “He’s not resting in the manor.” Frey return a stern look.

“I see. I’m sure where I can find him as always. I will be sure to visit him.” He gave another nod.
“Farewell, dear friend.”

Darold waved him good bye and proceed toward the manor.

Inside the carriage, Frey ordered his carriage rider to take him home. As he sat and peered outside the window and found the reflection of the open window, he secretly broadened his lips into a smile.