Charles stared off into the dark of the pool house. The water reflected the dim lights from the outside, as well as the moon, casting eerie shadows along the walls. Mist rose off the water and cascaded over the sides of the pool. Softly, the fogged, glass door to the pool house opened and a shadow crept in. Under shadow, Charles watched the shadow, unseen. Charles's breathing was slow and steady, he tried not to make a sound. They couldn't make a sound.
Charles was the chief butler for Lord Wiggindorf, English Earl for Her Majesty. Amanda, the Earl's daughter, was an adventurous girl Charles had known her since she was 15. He'd always loved her, but recently, those thoughts became to bring about different ideas in him. They filled him to a maddening quickness, making it difficult to concentrate. When he thought about her, his heart pounded loudly in his ears. His being concentrated on her.
On her nineteenth birthday, Amanda had a game with her friends through the great, hedge maze out front of the manor house. It was a cold day, but the sky was blue and sunny. There was much laughter and giggling. During the game, she'd ran out maze momentarily and told Charles she'd lost her parasol somewhere in the maze.
"Would you be so kind as to fetch it for me, Charles?"
Charles looked at her indignantly, though inside his pulse quickened as her spoke directly to him.
"Me, ma'mm?"
"Oh, yes, Charles, who else could fetch it so quickly?"
The laughter from her friends called out from the maze, and she stood there so prettily. Amanda had worn a white, party dress, petticoat and a racing gown from horseriding earlier. Her white skin was flushed, and her long, brown hair tousled from her exertions.
"Of course, ma'mm" And into the maze he went.
He knew the maze quite thoroughly, and searched it always to the left. He ran into many young people, racing to and fro. As they would pass him, they'd make faces or roll their eyes. Always ignoring them, he narrowmindedly continued his search.
After searching the entire maze, he was dumbfounded. He'd not managed to find her parasol and he'd be forced to go back empty-handed. "She'll not be pleased at all," he thought.
The rightmost-corner of the maze held a shack the gardener used to keep his tools in. Passing it, Charles noticed something bright sticking out from under its doorway. Walking to the closed door, Charles reached under the sill and pulled. A white handkerchief. The initials, A.W., were embroidered in red in the corner. Amanda's hankerchief.
Charles opened the door to the shack. The shack held trowels, spades, shovels hanging on both walls. In the middle, facing him, was an opened parasol. Opened as if to keep something out. A white riding skirt was seen under the parasol. Charles closed the door, and walked over to the parasol. Using the kerchief, Charles pushed aside the parasol, to see Amanda's bright, flushed face staring at him.
"It appears you have found my parasol, Sir," she said, smiling coyly, pleasingly.
"Yes," Charles spoke absently, staring at her chest heaving with breath. He closed their proximity slightly.
Amanda stared at Charles, watching him breathe hard but steadily in his butler's uniform.
