I slept well, and woke up feeling good, no longer did my head hurt and my confusion had disappeared I had never felt so free before, I looked at the clock and saw it was 5.30 Neither may or Julia had put in an appearance as yet so I went and had my morning bath.I had just stepped out when Julia appeared full of apologies.

"Julia don`t worry about it, I woke early and just decided to start by having a bath" I said

"Yes but Lady Margaret..." she replied

I interrupted her " Are you going to tell her, because I won`t".

We both giggled and after I was dried off went to get dressed. " Julia are you and May uncomfortable with what is happening?" I asked

" No, her Ladyship explained all about you and we volunteered for this duty" she relied

I gave her a hug and thanked her, once I was ready we sat aroung and chatted for a while, Julia showing me the dresses I had to wear along with the Jewellry and other accessories" I didn`t know but they were daughters of families that worked on the estate and had taken a gap year from University to earn some money.

I had breakfast with the various managers and dept heads, some like uncle Alistair and aunt Fiona I had already met and after my request yesterday were taking the opportunity to introduce me to everyone on the estate for which I was grateful for. Some of them I would rarely see but a few were going to be part of my education team. I apparently was going to learn how the household and estate were run over the next few years.

Once breakfast was finished I seemed to be at a loose end, I went into the office wing and found aunt Fiona in her office, she told me to sit and she would be with me in a moment. Once she had finished she took me down stairs she put het hat and coat coat and Julia did the same for me.

We stepped outside and got into a very large car, Aunt Fiona told me she was taking me to meet the Vicar Reverand Jones then into the village as she needed to go to the post office.

We arrived at the church and I was introduced to the Reverand Jones and was welcomed by him, he too had been told everything about me. The village and church were also part of the estate I was told as I was shown around the church, and a pretty little church it was too. After a visit to the post office we returned home, were a seamstress was waiting.

I was introduced to Molly and she took my measurement so she could make some skirts and tops that would be suitable for working around the estate especially the stables, a dress with hooped skirts definately wasn`t suitable.

At lunch uncle Walter ate with me and more of the staff which he introduced to me and also told me their duties. The more I learned of the people on the estate the more I was impressed they appeared to more like a family than just colleagues and although I didn`t know position within the organisation I felt close to each and everyone of them, why I don`t know.

After luch everyone went back to their duties and I went up to my room were I found Molly waiting, she had brought a top and skirt for me to try on, I did and they fitted well. She told me too keep them on and find some better footwear as I would be going to the stables and she left.

Julia came in with a few pair of calf length boots which I tried on till we found a pair that fit the rest she took away, I went round to the stables and found uncle Alistair waiting for me, he smiled when he saw me coming and told me that he was taking me out on Elfin lady.

I was taken to Elfin Lady`s stall and saw she had already been saddled uncle Alistair clipped a long leather strip to bridle and we went into the paddock. I was sat on the saddle and shown how to hook my right leg round the horn and the pony was trotted round in increasing circles until it reached the limit of the leather strap, this was kept up for an hour after which I was lifted of the pony and it was led back to stall to be unsaddled, Boy was I stff and sore after that.

After returning to the house I took a good long hot back and was given a good rub down, I rested for an hour before May helped me get dressed for dinner that evening. Tonight I was dining with some of younger estate workers with the chef presiding over them, again the meal was simple and the company was good not as young as I was but many of them had'nt long left school themselves.

I slept well that night and just a little stiff in the morning. This morning I was breakfasting with the main estate managers so that I could get some idea of what they actually did, OK a lot of it I didn`t understand but I got gist of it and found it helpful. I also learned some big and words as well heh heh heh. I was expecting aunt Margaret back today but she rang and said she it would be tomorrow night when she returned home.I spoke with aunt Fiona and uncle Walter about meals and who was left to invite, all the permanent workers I had met and was told that the seasonal workers changed from year to year.

The came into the office and invited me to dine with the staff for the rest of today and tomorrow rather than eat on my own and I agreed, she did however suggest that I wear something less constricting than what I usually wore and that she would speak to May and Julia, god I would get out of corsets at least for a little while. For the rest of the time I wore dresses that had been borrowed from some of the estate families.

If it wasn`t for the way that corsets restricted some of your movements they might have been bearable, I knew they being used to inprove my posture and bearing but they were also helping my rib cage to take the correct form and narrow my waist, not that I was fat. The dresses and layers of petticoats and crinolines were heavy to wear so the next hours would a reprieve that I would rarely have for the foreseeable future.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet and with the weather being good I sat in the garden reading one of the books I found in my dayroom, it was called "Lorna Doon" and I found it to be a very romantic exciting read written by R.D Blackmoor in 1869. The copy I was reading was the first book of a set three and very valuable as they were first editions and signed by the author himself, the books had a well read look about but you lso see that great care had been taken when handling them, I had been adviced to wear a pair of thin linen gloves, I loved reading and would take great care of any book I handled, my father before he died told me that good education is priceless and had taught me to read and value at a very early age.