It was 1822 in London, England. Hester, a house maid, had fallen for Isaac, the master of the house she served. She often gazed upon him from afar, admiring his sharp jaw and the beauty mark dotted below his left eye. People often said that Isaac had strange eyes, but Hester could find no faults in them, in fact, she adored his eyes. She felt like they pierced into your soul and knew all of your secrets. Of course, one should not want another to know one’s secrets, but Hester wished to share all she could with Issac, for she would never share her life with him.

It had been 3 years since she had been working for Mister Isaac and the Subler family, but 5 years since she had fallen for him. Her mother had been their house maid before her, but she passed away after a mining accident when she was 17, and Hester had found herself working for the Subler family ever since. She often thought of her Mother, and how proud she would be to see her working so well, but she knew she would be disappointed that she had reached the age of 20 without having married or born children. Hester thought she would rather die a single woman, than to marry a man who wasn’t Mister Isaac. But she would hate to upset the spirit of her Mother.

Madame Subler – who had insisted she mustn’t use her first name – wasn’t a pleasant woman. She looked down upon Hester, and thought of her as merely a slave to their house. She had, on several occasions, struck Hester with her cane, simply for being in her presence. Whilst some upheld the belief of ‘seen but not heard’, Madame Subler demanded Hester should not be seen nor heard. Mister Issac was thankfully more gracious and had even scolded Madame Subler upon catching her in the middle of a caning. He had persuaded her not to do it again, telling her that Hester must be well to work. Once again, Mister Isaac became a knight in shining armour to Hester, and for that she would always be most grateful.

--

One humid summer evening she was cleaning the stables as ordered by Madame Subler. She had swept all of the waste into a corner to be disposed of and she had cleaned the hooves of the horses. Just as she was about to dispose of the waste, she was startled by the sound of someone entering the stable. Upon turning around, she was most relieved to discover it was not Madame Subler but indeed Mister Isaac. He stopped and stared at her for a moment, Hester was unsure what to do.

Mister Isaac then took slow steps forward, his eyes never leaving hers, “Hester, you are most wonderful.”He spoke quietly. He stopped walking forward, standing only a few paces from Hester. “Did you know that I have fallen most deeply in love with you?  I only wish things could be different, so I could take you as my wife.” Without waiting for her answer he his heel and left the stables, disappearing into the night, leaving Hester wondering if the incident had happened at all.

Hester knew from her observations, that Isaac was unhappy with his wife, but he had pledged his life and his children to her, and so with her he had to stay. Hester’s thoughts wandered back to the night before, had Isaac meant what he had said to her, did he really feel that way? She could only hope that the cleaning liquids weren’t causing her to hallucinate such fantastical things. She often dreamt of similar situations, only the outcomes were far more pleasing and impossible. If she had been born a wealthy woman, would she have married Isaac? Or would she have been promised to another man, and never crossed his path. She wondered if she should be thankful for the life she had, since she may have never met Isaac any other way.

--

Three months had passed since Mister Isaac’s scandalous confession, and the situation had become much more scandalous than it had ever been. Hester was now Mister Isaac’s mistress, and Madame Subler would surely skin her alive if they were ever discovered. But Hester didn’t care, she had never felt happier in her life, even as a lowly house maid, Isaac made her feel like a beautiful queen from a fairytale. They often spent evenings together in a small flat across town, Mister Isaac had always arranged for Madame Subler to be elsewhere during these times, so she would not notice the absence of Hester in their house. This meant Hester had to work extra hard to keep the house clean, but she still did not mind.

“Hester, I think I may divorce my wife.” Isaac whispered into her hair. They were lying together in post coital bliss, his hands playing with the soft strands of her hair. “Surely not, for that would be terrible.” Hester whispered back, perhaps she disliked Madame Subler, but she couldn’t allow her to become a divorced woman, that would be most awful. “She is also terrible, would it not be fitting?” Isaac half heartedly joked, it was indeed true to some extent. “I think I will gather the papers and present them to her tomorrow, please make sure you hide away, I fear she may lash out her anger on you.” He wrapped his arms around Hester protectively, even without knowing Hester was the reason for their divorce, he was most positive that Madame Subler would attack her, since Mister Isaac had always cared for Hester more.

He had never wished to marry Madame Subler, but the dowry she offered was only too tempting. Although he had already been a man of great wealth, the dowry offered him so much more. He was not one usually persuaded by material possessions, but he thought about the future of his family and how well they would live, and that was all it took for him to agree to the marriage proposal. At least he would get to keep the wealth and properties from the dowry once the divorce was final.

--

Today was the big day, the day when Mister Isaac would end his marriage, rather than start it. He had already visited the court to file the divorce, when he stated the reason for divorce was adultery; he had secretly meant himself and not his wife. It had cost him a lot, but happiness was worth the money. He did feel guilty, to have blamed the now former Madame Subler for such actions when he himself was the culprit. But she was indeed a terrible woman, and he supposed that this was a consequence of her sour ways.

He called his former wife into his study to make the announcement. She strode in, looking as bitter as ever, “What is it that you wanted?” She snapped. Mister Isaac handed her the paperwork from his desk, “Our marriage is over.” He stated, trying to keep his emotions from his face. The colour drained from his former wife’s face, “This cannot be!” She exclaimed, not believing the documents before her. Her face suddenly flushed red with anger and she stepped forward, “You are not leaving me, Isaac.” She said, almost growling through her gritted teeth. Mister Isaac stumbled backwards onto his desk; Madame Subler was most frightening like this. She leant close to him, her hands on the desk either side of him, staring into his eyes, and then quickly withdrew. Mister Isaac wasn’t sure if she was trying to scare him, or she had become a lunatic.

Her intentions were soon revealed when she lunged at him, plunging a small silver letter opener into his gut. She stabbed him, he could not believe it. He slid to the floor, his back leaning against the desk as he desperately tried to stem the blood flow. “I told you that you would not be leaving me, at least in matrimony.” She sniggered, her eyes gleaming with twisted happiness. Suddenly Hester

burst into the room and Mister Isaac wanted to cry out, he had told her to stay away. Had she witnessed the entire ordeal?

Hester made her way to his side, disregarding the lunatic woman with a knife before her. She tried to stop the blood flow with her cleaning rags, but Mister Isaac could feel himself fading away. Madame Subler exited the room, most probably disposing of the knife. Mister Isaac gestured for Hester to come closer.

“My dearest, I’m sorry we could not be together this time.”

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And that is the first chapter! I'm sorry if you're confused since this is certainly not a gay couple, but the idea is of them loving each other in different lives, and I wont say much more than that! I hope you enjoyed it though, I enjoyed writing it ^^ I tried to write it in an older style but I think I failed...anyways, thanks for reading, comments and subs would be appreciated!