Go for a walk and contemplate your life

Rather than returning to the hunting party, you chose another path.

There was no particular destination.

Life in service rarely allowed such moments.

Each hour was usually spoken for before it had even begun.

This moment was different.

You found yourself wondering what awaited you in ten years' time.

Would you still be polishing boots and laying out coats for Sir Edward?

The thought did not trouble you as much as it once might have.

Sir Edward was a good master.

Fair.

Patient.

Better than many men of his station.

Yet there remained a quiet voice within you that longed for something more.

Not wealth for its own sake.

Nor grand titles.

Only the chance to build a life that belonged to you.

A home of your own.

Land to tend.

A place where your future was determined by your own choices rather than another man's household.

The image lingered in your mind longer than you expected.

Then, quite without intending to, another face appeared beside it.

Lady Charlotte.

You smiled to yourself.

The idea was absurd.

She was the daughter of a lord.

You were a gentleman's valet.

Even entertaining the thought felt dangerously close to fantasy.

And yet...

She had spoken to you not as a servant, but as a person.

She had listened.

Laughed.

Asked questions she had not needed to ask.

Perhaps it had meant nothing at all.

Perhaps she was just kind.

You reminded yourself that kindness should never be mistaken for affection.

Still...

You hoped your paths would cross again before the hunting party came to an end.

Whether that hope was born of admiration or something deeper, you could not yet say.

A distant hunting horn echoed through the trees.

The signal brought your wandering thoughts to an end.

Duty would soon call you back.

One day, perhaps, you would discover whether the future held more than faithful service.

For now, however, it was enough to know that for the first time in many years, you had begun to imagine one.

With that thought quietly settled in your heart, you turned and made your way back towards the waiting hunting party.