Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, and A Note

Zebediah had not seen the young woman either, nor heard her nor seen any sign of her. He told me he would be on the lookout for her, though, and do his best to be friendly if he came across her. All the more I can think is that she is a ward of Mr. Troxill, or perhaps a niece or other relative, and she is unwell and therefore discouraged from meeting new people because of her health. Although if she is a clockwork, she should not be able to get ill... But she cannot be a clockwork! And yet the metal at her wrists and neck... I do not know!

Anyway, Mr. Miller and I both agreed not to say a word of her to Mr. Troxill. We would not want her reprimanded for something that was not her fault. Although if possible, I would like to at least leave her a message telling her I would like to be friends, and perhaps she could speak to Mr. Troxill about venturing into my company for a short time.

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It is evening now, and we have all just retired upstairs. We sat in the library for a while after supper, and I made sure I was the last to leave the room. I had communicated my plan to Zebediah earlier, so he let me be.

Once Mr. Troxill and Zebediah were nearly to their respective rooms, I stooped low near the fire, as I thought it might be the girl's job to tend to it, given how I saw her last night, bent over it. I dropped a folded piece of paper in the corner, where the right wall of the fireplace meets a little overlap of the bricks that make up the front of it all. It could only be seen if one was very close to the fire, which was now nothing more than glowing embers, or if one was across the room and happened to look into that corner. I had written "From Miss Greenwater" in small script across the front, but the rest of the words were hidden inside the folds. I put down what I said before, about wishing to be her friend, and requesting she ask Mr. Troxill if she might be allowed to visit with me for a short amount of time now and then.

Once that was done, I hurried up to my room. Now all I have to do is wait, and see if the girl succeeds in convincing her uncle (or whatever) to let her see visitors, or she smuggles another note to me. I hope this will not be the end of it, as it is all very intriguing