Elizabeth: Part XIX

(Story begins here.)

To call the grounds immediately outside of the manor as ``beautiful'' was an understatement. There was more to it than mere beauty---the patio itself led to a gravel road that wound outwards towards the the main slip road that led to the manors in the county. The gravel road itself was flanked by a well-kept lawn that a gardner came to tend to once every week. There was a strong sense of orderliness and neatness that made the immediate surroundings of the front of the manor convey a sense of tranquility among the rustic land. The gravel road itself was a holdover from the old days where horse carriages and buggies were the norm; now it saw the company of various light country cars instead. The strange thing though was that the manor itself did not have any cars on hand---all there were was a small stable of two or three horses that the groom would take good care of. All business to be conducted away from the manor generally entailed horse rides out through the county, which generally meant that the effective range was roughly twenty miles for a day trip. It was possible to order a cab to go farther out, but it involved a trip down to the county's cab company, on horseback no less, in order to place the order. Once again the trustees' demand of maintaining traditional customs had come into effect.

Anton stood at the doorway and sniffed the air. It had a certain freshness about it, despite the fact that it was already the start of the afternoon. It was a good thing though that the sky was slightly overcast since it provided the shade necessary to make a walk out on the grounds of the manor more comfortable. Glancing at the gravel road in front of him, Anton was reminded by the distinct lack of transportation options, something that he had once dismissed as mere anachronism on the part of the board of trustees, but now seen as a not-so-subtle attempt at enforcing the environment necessary for the ``closed circle'' syndrome. He shrugged to himself unconsciously before checking on his actions---he wasn't sure if the housekeeper was acutally keeping an eye out on him from somewhere within the manor itself. Not wanting to run the risk of excessive sunlight or rain, Anton grabbed an umbrella from the ceramic stand next to the front door and opened it up before walking out of the patio and down the gravel road until he came to a paved path that veered off to the left.

The path was paved with red bricks and was a recent addition to the estate. It was previously a muddy trail that led off towards the small woods past the stables that was to the rear of the house, but was finally paved over with bricks by one of the more recent masters of the manor because he couldn't stand getting his loafers dirtied each time he wanted to take a whalk. It was on this path that Anton found himself on now as he walked slowly along it. He was still near the house itself, and did not dare to talk to himself out loud to help him reason through his thought processes. He walked on quietly, following the path till he was past the stables and fast towards the open field which came before the woods themselves.

Roughly a hundred metres away from the house, Anton started to talk to himself out loud, reasoning about his possible courses of action. It was clear that the hardest thing to do was to get communication out somehow. While the county, as a whole, was quite rustic in nature due to its out-of-the-wayness in the country, modern communication amenities were still available, albeit in very limited places. There were few cellphone towers, and those that were present tended to be nearer the main road in town rather than out in the country, and the only form of Internet access was the satellite kind. Anton started wondering if it were possible for him to get satellite Internet set up on the manor. He could ask for it to be set up such that it did not destroy the outwardly rustic charm by having the dish indoors in the study or even his room, and it provided him with the ability to actually communicate outside of the county and even outside of the country, where some of his friends were. He was sure that money was not a problem, considering the allowance the he was given by the board of trustees, leaving the only problem to that of logistics.

Anton thought about the reasons to justify the ruse as he made his way half way through the field and towards the woods. By now, the manor was quite far away, and anyone who was observing him could see him only as a vaguely human-shaped figure, and was very unlikely to actually hear him. Nevertheless, Anton still kept his voice down low as he thought and rethought through his plan.

(Story continues here.)