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Young Ella held her mother’s hand as they walked through the market place, eyes wide as she surveyed the people moving around her. As busy as it was this time of the day, everyone seemed to make room for them so the pair weren’t jostled by a stray elbow or shoulder.
To Ella, it seemed as though they knew she and her mother held none of the desperation to buy what they could afford like the others did. Indeed, her mother was a Lady, married to a Lord, but she enjoyed these jaunts to the market to “understand the people who represented the majority of those in the kingdom,” as her mother had explained.
Her mother stopped, a wood carving from a merchant’s cart catching her eye, or something equally boring. Ella dropped her mother’s hand and looked around for any children her age, wondering what they would be like. A couple of children were crowded around something a couple carts down from, and she edged closer, wondering what they were looking at.
When they parted a bit, she could see a hand-sewn doll that looked nothing like the nice dolls she had at home, yet the other children seemed so taken with it. Ella turned to ask her mother about it, but looking back at the cart, her mother was no longer there.
Panic struck her and she looked around frantically. Not seeing the familiar cloak, she hurried in the direction they had been heading before they had stopped, hoping to find her a little further down. When she didn’t, she started jogging, hoping to catch up to wherever her mother had stopped next.
A little out of breath, Ella paused and looked around again. By then, she had reached one of the roads surrounding the market, and looking on the other side, she spotted her mother’s cloak exiting a shop.
Hurrying after the woman, Ella hurried across the road, startling a team of horses as she ran in front of them. The woman was just climbing into a carriage when she caught up to her. She quickly hurried into the carriage, and sat down on the side opposite the woman. Wanting to avoid a stern talking to for wondering off, Ella promptly feigned exhaustion and curled up on the seat. It wasn’t long before the natural rocking of the carriage lulled her to sleep.
Several hours later, the Duchess of Jork stepped out of the carriage and signalled for one of the servants to approach before gesturing inside.
Peering inside, the stable hand glanced back at the Duchess. “A child?” he asked, wonder where she came from.
The Duchess shrugged. “She will make a good scullery maid. Show her inside,” she ordered before going to greet her daughters who should be with the tailor having their new dresses fitted.