The Island: Pt. 16 - Enticements

"Good guess. Completely wrong mind, but a good one."

Mrs Beatrice actually did smile and pointed at a comfortable chair, "Please Natassia, have a seat before you faint or something. Can I offer you a cup of tea perhaps?"

Natassia sat as she was bidden and watched in bewilderment as Mrs Beatrice set a delicate saucer and cup in front of her and fussed with the teapot before pouring the tea. Her eyes grew wide as she saw it was the same set that she had broken all that time ago, earning her a caning at the hands of the woman in front of her.

The housekeeper saw the expression and gave a small laugh as she pointed at the cup, "I'm sorry, that wasn't deliberate, I just like those cups. I can fetch out another tea-set if you prefer."

The brunette shook her head and couldn't help but grin, "No thanks, I'll just be careful not to break it this time."

"Do you feel ill-treated with regard to what happened last time?" the woman asked.

"No, but my bum still stung regardless. Truth be told I think I got off lightly, in other places I would have been fired, or made to pay for the damage and that would have taken years."

Mrs Beatrice smiled, "Oh, a lot less time than that my dear."

Natassia looked confused, "I thought it was hideously expensive."

"It is."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

The older woman explained, "The monies you receive for your work, what you might call your wages, is not the entirety of your remuneration. It is the habit of Mistress Portia to open a small stock portfolio for all members of staff upon their employment. I think she enjoys it to be honest, as a hobby perhaps, but either way, she is singularly adept when it comes to navigating the business realm and while I wouldn't describe you as rich by any means, you are certainly reasonably well off."

The woman glanced at the computer screen, "In the case of younger members of staff the portfolio is held in trust until they reach the age of twenty-one, which in your case is in a week's time."

"As to the time you spend with Miss Susan? Who you choose to spend your off-hours with is entirely your own affair. Further, it is my understanding that upon her arrival here were you not instructed to look after her? Now I saw the two of you together just yesterday and she seemed positively giddy, so a job well done, no?"

Natassia smiled and her cheeks coloured at the description. "Why is she so good to us, she treats me like family, but I'm just a maid really?"

"My dear, you are no more 'just a maid' than I am 'just a housekeeper', my understanding is that you are a gifted linguist, is that not the case? In fact, I understand that when you accompanied Portia to Japan a couple of years ago, she received significant complimentary remarks regarding your skill and deportment. There were, I hear, more than a few offers of employment, did she not pass that on to you?"

The brunette blushed, "She said some kind things, but I thought she was sort of kidding."

"She most certainly was not kidding."

Mrs Beatrice poured more tea, "And last year did you not assist Portia with the building of the school? My understanding is that the village council were most suspicious of the interference of the 'rich foreigner', and it was your skill and empathy that alleviated those concerns. Is that not so?"

"I just tried to understand their point of view."

"Exactly."

The woman gave her a melancholy smile, "I think mistress Portia views us as 'her people, she has no family of her own and she just wants the very best for us all. Besides, she likes you."

"What?"

Mrs Beatrice grinned, "Natassia, you are quite possibly one of the most honest, genuine, kind and down-right likeable people I have ever met. It took you about five minutes to put Miss Susan almost completely at ease after her horrific experiences, and you did it effortlessly because that is just who you are."

Natassia found herself blushing to the roots at her words.

"Now I think I've said quite enough nice things about you for one day, you are also an incredibly mischievous individual when the mood takes you and I'm rather surprised I didn't have you bent over my desk on a weekly basis."

"Well, you did at the start."

"So I did, but I think we were testing each other back then. Getting the feel of each other's convictions."

Natassia grinned, "Well I certainly felt it, I don't know about you."

To the brunette's surprise, Mrs Beatrice laughed out loud at her impetuous quip. "Do you remember when you glued my pen to the desk? That was hilarious."

"You knew it was me?"

"Of course it was you! Nobody else would have the guts."

"But you didn't punish me?"

"There was no evidence as to your guilt. Trust me if I could have proven it then you wouldn't have sat down for a week. But even if I had I would have still appreciated the joke regardless."

Natassia chuckled at the memory, "I almost pissed myself in fear for about a week every time I saw you. But it was worth it."

"Indeed. However, I did actually call you here with a purpose in mind."

The brunette looked attentive.

"Firstly, as I've mentioned, it is your 21^st birthday in a week's time. In addition to receiving your instructions on the portfolio, I was wondering what you would like to do to celebrate?"

"Pardon?"

"Well obviously we would have a party or something, it's not every day a young lady has her 21^st birthday you know. But I wondered if you would like to do something else to celebrate. You have quite a lot of holiday time accumulated, I chatted to Mistress Portia, and she suggested Italy."

"Italy?"

"Yes, I suspect she's just a tad biased, being she was raised there after all."

"No, I mean, Italy?"

Mrs Beatrice gave the girl a somewhat odd look, "Yes Italy. It's a country, in Europe, just pop along the Mediterranean and you can't miss it. Don't you fancy spending a few weeks in Rome with Miss Susan?"

"Could I afford it? It must cost a fortune to go to Italy."

"I already mentioned you have significant savings, but in truth, it wouldn't cost that much. The jet could drop you off and pick you up, and I believe Mistress Portia already has a suite on retainer at a very nice hotel so accommodation wouldn't be an issue. It's up to you, of course, but I would at least consider it. If not Italy, there are other places, I rather fancy Barcelona myself, but then I always was a Freddie Mercury fan."

Natassia stared at the woman.

Mrs Beatrice looked back with a mischievous grin, "I am English after all."

"Can I talk to Susan?"

"Good God girl! It's your birthday, and your decision, you can talk to whoever you like. But let me know and I can make any necessary arrangements."

"Wow, Italy."

The older woman grinned, "Indeed. There are more than a few rather handsome men and many quite beautiful women in Italy you know. I imagine the two of you could have a lot of fun there."

Natassia blushed and Mrs Beatrice gave her a conspiratorial wink, "I was young once too you know."

The older woman became more serious, "There was something else I wanted to discuss with you though. Mistress Portia has retained a young girl from the local school. She's just turned eighteen and her schooling would be complete, but it appears she has a singular musical gift, particularly as a vocalist. My understanding is that Mistress Portia would very much like to provide a scholarship, perhaps to Julliard or Berklee, however, she is young, speaks only limited English and to be honest, given her socio-economic background I think she is already a little overwhelmed here in the villa and the prospect of being uprooted and plonked in a foreign country would probably terrify her. Plus, there are family issues to consider, her parents may not appreciate our involvement after all."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Well, maybe take her under your wing a little, perhaps speak to her family. Many of the local villagers are poor fishermen, I don't mean to insult her but doubt the girl has more than two pennies to rub together and she must be terrified. Now I'm asking this of you Natassia, it's not an instruction but a personal request. Do you think you could be her friend for a bit until her world stops spinning quite so fast at least?"

"I'd be happy to."

"Thank you very much, my dear, I knew I could rely on you. Her name is Bethari, I'll leave you to make your own introductions. Now be off with you girl, before I remember that you just admitted to glueing my pen to the desk all that time ago and tan your arse just for the fun of it."

"Yes, ma'am."