(no subject)

It was late afternoon. The train had come in on time and the bags been unloaded. One by one Carlotta's friends had waved her goodbye, until the only other person outside the station was Prudence. When the girl's parents arrived, they were too upset to care that one of her classmates had been so far unclaimed, and before Carlotta knew it she was completely alone with her trunk.

She waited patiently, wondering if he father had been caught up in traffic. Ten minutes passed, then fifteen, and then half an hour.

Maybe he's looking in the wrong place Carlotta thought suddenly, looking around for a good vantage point. Aha, a tree. Suspecting that nobody would be able to steal her trunk in the time it would take to get down again, she climbed up to get a better view. No sign of her father, but from behind a shrill and most angry lady's voice called out:

"Carlotta Millicent Brown, come down from that tree at once!"

Carlotta, seeing the old lady, jumped down immediately.

"Hallo Grandma." A brief an unemotional kiss is exchanged. "Um, my middle name is Maria, not Millicent, and I don't really use it."

This was not a good start. Carlotta's grandmother had now discovered that the girl's middle name had been after her other grandmother, rather than herself as she was lead to believe. She did not, of course, blame her granddaughter for this, but it was not a pleasant thing to find out.

"It is not ladylike to climb trees Carlotta." she said severely. "Don't let me see you doing it again. Come now, your father is detained in business, so Harris will take your trunk.

Harris turned out to be a butler, with a rather humerous droopy moustache. He picked up the trunk as if it were made of feathers though, which earned him immediate respect in Carlotta's eyes.

Home turned out to be a very large house, and the journey back was rather long. Carlotta, unused to road travel, managed to accidentally break the window winder en route, but pushed the little knob back on quickly so as not to draw attention to it. It was odd having to wait for the butler to open the doors, as was apparently what was meant to be done.

"This is your room, Miss Brown." Harris said, after he carried her trunk up the stairs. "If you wish me to put any nails in the wall for pictures, do let me know."

Carlotta thanked him and looked around the room. It was the size of her dormitory at school, and she felt slightly lost in it. Her second trunk of things she'd retrieved from the circus was to one side, and she made a beeline to it quickly to check... yes, her circus performance dresses were still there, and the posters of circus folk. She was much relieved.

"Mrs Brown wishes to take you clothes shopping in an hour." Harris said, giving her a tactful moment to reminice. "May I suggest you remove your shoes in the house?" he adds. "The Mistress does not like to see them on."

Carlotta, noting that she'd gained an ally, thanked him and took them off. He immediately picked them up, gave them a polish, and put them on what she presumed must be a shoe rack.

"Am I allowed to wander around?" she asked cautiously.

"Certainly Miss Brown. I shall give you the tour."

"Please, call me Carlotta?" Carlotta looked at him beseechingly. Miss Brown was just a whole new level of Weird.

Harris smiled slightly, and lost his starched air for a moment. "Very well. But not in front of your grandmother or father, they would not approve. You are allowed free access to everywhere in the house, but you are requested not to enter the study of your late grandfather. There are several other studies you may use."

He gestures to some ropes hanging on the wall. "If you wish to summon me, pull on this rope once. If you wish to summon the maid, pull it twice. If there is an emergency, pull it repeatedly and all household staff members will assist you. Your grandmother also wishes you to change before you go out."

"I think she threw all my clothes out." Carlotta said. There was no way she was wearing her best circus things out to the shops.

"She has put a few of your Aunt Mary's dresses in your wardrobe in the meantime. I shall leave you to it." Harris said, bowing and exiting the room.

Carlotta looked around the room, with its pink, slightly unnatural look. It had been a guest room, and had a strange unlived in feel. It took her a moment to even find the wardrobe, as she had thought it was another room. But it seemed to contain clothes, so she walked through it in bemusement. Aunt Mary had clearly been a frilly sort of girl, and grimacing, Carlotta searched through.

Suddenly, she realised that this was a test. The dresses here were of many different types. Grandma was trying to find out what sort of clothes she liked, and whether she had the sense to find something that would fit well.

She paused, looking at two adjacent dresses. Neither were too bad, given that they had belonged to someone her age twenty years ago. One had the most horrific frilly tie around an otherwise simple dress, the other a simple tie around the frilliest of dresses. Checking carefully that doing so would not damage either dress, she removed each tie and swapped them, then taking the simpler dress she tried it on for size. It fitted well, and she managed to tuck the skirt up a bit so that it didn't go down to the floor and would almost pass for one made after 1930.

"You'll do." Grandma said when she got downstairs, looking her over. "But go and tidy your hair, and get rid of that mud under your nails."

Carlotta saw that exploring would have to wait for later. This ladylike business looked like it was going to be hard work.