Excerpts from
A Few Days in September
By Mette Winge
"There´s no need to take on so. She´s just gone for a little walk."
"Yes, but she´s not supposed to go wandering about on her own. The mistress´ll throw a fit, and then she´s liable to scream and shout something awful."
"But it´s not your fault. How can you be expected to keep an eye on her, when you´re down here below stairs and she´s up on the first floor?"
"And her music teacher is due here this morning. The mistress said so."
"Well she´ll just have to go away again. It´s not the end of the world. I´m sure the girl just needs to get off on her own and kick up her heels a bit. She´s kept on a very tight rein when her mother is here."
"But that´s exactly what she´s not supposed to do, go kicking up her heels. And certainly not on her own. Oh dearie, dearie me! It´s like the mistress keeps on saying. Anything could happen, with all these Russians running about. I mean, that´s all they think about, jumping on any woman they see, whatever their age. Young lasses or fat old wives, it´s all the same to them. Anyone would think they didn´t get anything at home. Well, they say even the Tsar ..."
"But the Russians aren´t here yet."
"No, right enough, neither they are. But what about all them blackamoors, and ..."
"D´you think maybe I should just go out and look for her?"
"Oh yes, do, and I´ll get hold of one of the gardener´s boys. They can run fast.
"But where would they be after running to? Surely she wouldn´t have gone down to the lake, would she?"
"To the lake? Oh, dear, you don´t think anything could have happened? The lake. Oh my, oh my."
The kitchen maid´s plump cheeks caved in in horror, and her hands flew up to her face.
"No, no, of course nothing has happened."
"I warrant she´s fallen in the lake and drowned. I just know it, I can feel it. Either that or she´s been ravished by one of them there blackamoors, torn limb from limb for all we know. Have you seen them? One almost expects to see them walking about with a knife between their teeth."
"Well the Cossacks haven´t got here yet, so it couldn´t be them. Calm yourself, now. I´ll run down to the lake and have a look. Like as not, I´m a bit quicker on my feet. You go find the gardener."
Hildeborg placed a hand on the door-handle and was just about to turn it, when she heard voices in the courtyard.
Translated by Barbara Haveland
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