The Visitor by Sheri S Tepper

Author:Sheri S Tepper [Tepper, Sheri S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

31

a visit to hetman gone

Two days later, Mrs. Stemfall went into the dining room where Rashel was having her noon meal in lonely splendor. Just outside the door, she adopted a dour and disapproving face.

"Parm me, Ma'am," she muttered, with a sniff. "But there was a letter from your sister, Miss Dis. She ast me to tell you she has that job they was offering. She won't be coming back."

Rashel turned quite pale. She had received Michael's message regarding the "stuck door and extra day away" with a degree of composure, expecting Dismé to return today. Now she rose from the table and left the dining room, missing the sly smile that fled across the housekeepers face. Upstairs, in Dismé's room, Rashel pulled out the drawers, opened the cupboards and threw wide the closet door. They were empty except for a tattered shirt and pair of men's trousers, which she regarded with momentary rage until she realized the belt around them was Dismé's own. She returned to attack Mrs. Stemfall.

"You packed her things! You sent them on to her."

Mrs. Stemfall allowed herself a measure of hauteur. "I did no such thing. I'd have had no time to do so."

"I'll get to the bottom of this. I'll question Joan and Michael. If you have..."

Mrs. Stemfall turned in outrage and left the room, feeling Rashel's fury crackling the air after her. Rashel raged through the house, looking for evidence, so she said, that one of the servants had helped Dismé do whatever it was Dismé was alleged to have done. Molly Uphand retaliated by providing a supper that was barely edible, but Rashel didn't notice. Carrying her rage from the house to the museum, she went on so furiously in the succeeding days that a number of museum staff took sick.

In the classroom, Lettyne bit her lips in aggravation. Tidbits of news about Dismé had been good for a few coins from her mama, and now that source of income had departed. At home, Molly Uphand smiled quietly behind a dish towel, postponing a good gossip with Joan about it until they were home. Dismé had often lent a hand and was well-liked.

Rashel's interview with Michael caused the gravest affront. He denied taking baggage from maid or cook or housekeeper to send on to Hold. He denied he had packed any such thing himself. He kept his temper very well, considering that half-a-dozen times he came within a breath of assaulting her. When a momentary lull allowed him to do so, he tendered his resignation to the Caigo Faience, thereby renewing hostilities.

"What do you mean, you're leaving?" she snarled.

"I have already secured a driver's position in Hold which is to begin in a few day's time."

"You don't have my permission to leave!"

"I'm sure the BHE will find someone for you within the next few days," Michael replied. "I informed them earlier, and they said it would take little time to replace me."

"You informed them!"

"Yes Ma'am. In accordance with the rules of my contract.

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