The Maidens' Lodge

In the handsome parlour of Cressingham Abbey, commonly called White-Ladies, on a dull afternoon in January, 1712, sat Madam and her granddaughter, Rhoda, sipping tea. Madam-and nothing else, her dependants would have thought it an impertinence to call her Mrs Furnival. Never was Empress of all the Russias more despotic in her wide domain than Madam in her narrow one. As to Mr Furnival-for there had been such a person, though it was a good while since-he was a mere appendage to Madam's greatness-useful in the way of collecting rents and seeing to repairs, and capable of being put away when done with. He was a little, meek, unobtrusive man, fully (and happily) convinced of his own insignificance, and ready to sink himself in his superb wife as he might receive orders.Emily Sarah Holt is the author of 'The Maidens' Lodge', published 2007 under ISBN 9781421847214 and ISBN 1421847213.