Dawn was breaking over the Hollow Hall estate as Lisa busied herself with preparing for the day ahead. It was going to be a long, busy day for her, but she was looking forward to it greatly. She flitted through the semi-dark corridors in her white nightgown, entering rooms and leaving instructions for the cooks, groundskeeper and other staff. Usually she was more personally attentive to the day-to-day running of the estate, but today was special, and the staff and estate could look after itself for one day. She left instructions with the head butler that Master John was not to be disturbed under any circumstances and to accept no callers until the following day.
She had been planning today for weeks now and now she was excited at her careful planning was going to come to fruition. She heard the first calls of birdsong outside and looked at the ever-lightening dark blue sky out of the drawing room windows. Having completed her rounds of the house, she returned to her room quietly. Her room adjoined Master John's, but they had shared his bed for 20 years now and she smiled at herself in the mirror as she remembered her as a young girl, resisting Master John's advances until he had taken her.
She brushed her thick brown hair and thought of the years they had spent together, how their roles had changed, and became lovers. He had wanted her for his wife but his family forbade it, his anger at the idea that he should marry some loveless socialite more concerned with balls and coaches and expenses shocked them, and his insistence that he should marry for love, marry the woman who truly loved him with all her body and mind as he did her, split the family apart; he disowned them and took her away to live here in the beauty of Hollow Hall.