The Cinder Bullies (18)

"The owners of the estate are home already?" Cindy asked Nadia, wondering if she had understood her correctly.

"Yes, and we are all invited to go up to the huge mansion on the hill, for dinner tomorrow evening," replied Nadia. "It should be fun!"

Immediately, Cindy became a bit apprehensive. "We are going to go?"

"Of course!" said Xavier. "They are wonderful people. You will love them."

"I know that they will love you too, just like Rosa, Millie and I do," Nadia reassured her, sensing her fear.

"Dancer does, too" continued Xaviar. "And so do I," he whispered to her. "Don't worry, I will take care of you and Millie, too."

Cindy was relieved.

"Thank you, Xavier," she said. "Thank you, everyone." 

"Let's take Dancer for a walk," Xaviar suggested to Cindy and Millie, with a smile. "Maybe he will dance for us again."

Rosa and Nadia were both thrilled to see how well Xaviar was relating to the young ladies. They were responding well to him, too.

"Just one moment, I must take my flute along!"

After the younger folks had left to go for their walk, Rosa said, "I have an idea, but I want to talk to you about it first, Nadia, and then maybe we will approach the owners of the estate about it, too."

"Does this idea of yours include our young ladies and Xaviar?"

"Of course," replied Rosa. "I would never exclude Cindy and Millie, or your son."

What she wanted to do was to establish a trade school for scullery maids who managed to break free from their oppressive roles of servitude. 

Nadia was totally amazed with Rosa's idea.

"I would like our young ladies and Xaviar, to be their mentors," said Rosa, with a smile. "Cindy does wonderful work with roses and dried flowers, Millie is an excellent seamstress and Xaviar is an amazing musician."

"You are right on all accounts. What a wonderful idea that is!"

"Can you imagine how exciting this could be for them?" asked Rosa. "Of course, you and I would be the matrons of the school and they could come to us for advice or assistance, at any time."

"Do you think the estate owners would be supportive of a project like this?" asked Nadia. "On this estate?"

"If they meet our young folks first, and then, we approach them about this project proposal later, we may be able to get some feedback from them!" suggested Rosa. "They will probably love the idea and be supportive of it, too."

"A school like this could help a lot of young folks to break free of this kind of oppression," said Nadia. "There are not a lot of options for them otherwise."

"Shall we talk to the young ladies and Xaviar about it first, or wait?" asked Rosa. She was not about to say anything unless Nadia was in agreement.

"Let's wait," said Nadia. "Xaviar is going to be at the dinner tomorrow evening. I think he can speak for himself. He seems so much more confident now, after being at boarding school."

"The young ladies are also becoming much more confident too."

And so, they agreed to wait.