My thoughts are interrupted by a knock on the door and Sylvia, the maid who brought up our dinner the night before, enters with a heavy breakfast tray.
‘It’s a beautiful morning,’ she says, singsong, as she lays out freshly brewed coffee and a selection of pastries.
‘What’s everyone up to this morning?’ Edward asks from the bathroom doorway. He’s shirtless, with a towel about his waist.
She blushes noticeably as she lays the cutlery and plates, pouring us two steaming cups of coffee. ‘Mr Robert is in his office. Mrs Eleanor is in the Orangery. Your brothers are planning on fishing this morning. Jimmy is preparing the kit in the boot room.’ She looks up at Edward. ‘Shall I ask him to prepare your things too?’
‘No, thank you, Sylvia. I think I’ll show Harriet around today. Maybe we’ll take lunch in the snug? Is it free?’
‘It is, sir.’
‘Say 1:30?’
‘Perfect,’ she smiles. ‘And, er, I don’t know if you’ve been told, but the children are staying in the keeper’s cottage with Nunu tonight. Something about staying up for Santa,’ she adds with a knowing smile.
‘God, Nunu is a saint,’ Edward remarks, causing a sharp flirtatious giggle to erupt from Sylvia. Sometimes I forget how attractive Edward is until I see him in action and it’s like a kick in the head.
‘Oh, and Ms Erikson is swimming,’ Sylvia adds, seemingly without judgement. Edward’s gaze snaps up.
‘What, in the lake?’ Edward asks, clearly taken aback.
Sylvia nods slowly. ‘She’s Scandinavian,’ she offers, by way of explanation, then shrugs, leaving it at that. We grunt our understanding. Swimming in freezing water in the snow makes a little more sense in that respect.
The breakfast served and the whereabouts of the entire Holbeck clan accounted for, Sylvia takes her leave.
* * *
After breakfast, Edward and I trek out into the garden bundled up in layers, our breath fogging in the cold air. Edward leads us out across the crunchy snow towards the bulk of the maze.
‘There’s a trick to the maze,’ Edward says with a smile as we approach its entrance. ‘Want to hear it, or prefer to try your luck first?’
From the driveway it looked fun, but standing right in front of it, its size really hits home and I find myself wondering what would actually happen if you did get stuck inside it. The densely packed hedges making up its walls must by over fifteen feet high. It’s unlikely you could climb it or crawl through it if you had to break the rules.
‘I don’t know. Be honest: how hard is it?’ I ask.
He raises an eyebrow. ‘Hard.’
‘Well, then, I think I’m going to need the trick. It’s going to be a long day otherwise.’
Edward lets out a laugh. ‘Yeah, maybe a maze, my family and a treasure hunt is a bit much for your first Christmas.’
In front of the maze’s opening, I notice a small wooden sign at knee height with the words ‘Enter Here’ hand-etched onto it.
‘Creepy,’ I say.
‘Yep,’ he says with a sigh. ‘Now imagine being seven and having to celebrate Krampusnacht here.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘Exactly,’ he says. ‘Now, the trick with mazes is…’ he says, lifting his right hand in demonstration. ‘You know this one, right?’ he says, checking.
I shake my head and then he places his right hand on the maze wall. ‘In that case, this works on most mazes. It certainly does on this one. Keep your right hand on the maze wall from start to finish. No matter what happens, you keep that hand on. Dead-end? You keep your hand on the wall and walk around. All the walls are connected, you see, so if you follow one wall all the way through, you’ll get there in the end. It’s a much longer route, but it’s a route.’