The Adventures of Clarissa Hardy by Chloe Gillis

Author:Chloe Gillis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Omnific Publishing
Published: 2015-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

The next day proved interesting indeed. Clarissa and Kitty woke early, refreshed, and made their way down to breakfast. They sat across from the young local couple. Soon, the Dutch women joined them, as well as the Santiagos. Clarissa noticed that today, the woman, who was extremely beautiful, wore around her long neck, a soft leather collar set with precious stones. The buckle and ring were gold.

Breakfast conversation was animated and light, mostly getting to know little personal details about each other. The local couple were a chemist and a school teacher. They had met the Dutch women at Melbourne House on a previous occasion and introduced them to Clarissa and Kitty. At last, just as Clarissa was finishing her cup of tea, Brom Van Kessel entered the room with a flourish. He addressed Clarissa directly.

“Miss Hardy, my dear! Have you finished your breakfast? Oh, excellent! You must follow me now. We shall tour the cellars and the distillery, and you shall have the meat for your feature. We will get the work out of the way early, yes?”

“Oh, yes,” agreed Clarissa, dabbing at her lips with her napkin.

Brom Von Kessel pulled her chair out for her and took her arm. “Come, my dear,” he said. “Everybody, Miss Hardy, and I have work to do. Make yourselves completely comfortable. Madam Sarkoff and Hugo will attend to you.” He pulled a large gold watch from his watch pocket. “I ask that you are ready for play at eight o’clock this evening.” He bowed with a great flourish, all the while holding on to Clarissa’s hand. “I bid you adieu.” Then he led Clarissa away.

It was a fascinating day. Brom took Clarissa first to see the distillery. Clarissa was awed by the huge steel tank and the copper tubing, the beautiful glass bottles, and the most pleasant scent.

“Got rid of the pigs, I did,” he said. “Yes, yes. Sold them to a farmer right here in town, and glad enough he was to pay the price. They were fabulous pigs, you see, but I saw that this quaint little building, cleaned and shined, would be a most wonderful distillery. And so it is!”

Clarissa was scratching away in her little notebook with her pencil, taking down the most interesting things the man was saying. She followed him back inside through a door at the back of the house. Across this entryway was another door, huge and wooden with great wrought iron strap hinges.

“Come this way, my dear,” he said, swinging the giant door open and flicking a switch. A low, yellow light illuminated the room.

Clarissa gasped. It was a spectacular room, long and built of brick. Each wall was a series of arches and inside the arches were the wines on wooden shelves. Hundreds, no, thousands of bottles of wine of every imaginable vintage.

“I am indeed impressed, Mr. Von Kessel,” remarked Clarissa honestly. “This is the finest collection of wine I have ever seen!”

“I assure you, it is. And later this evening, you will get to taste some of the elegant flavors stored on these shelves.

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