The whole town of May Green was abuzz with gossip about Harry Brayton’s new house — and most of the comments were negative.

“It just doesn’t look right,” some folks said. “It looks like an overblown hunting lodge.”

“I hear he doesn’t mean to finish it.”

“It’s so terribly plain.”

And it was rather plain in contrast to every other new house going up in town. The latest trend in May Green, made popular by the wealthiest and most respected family in town, the Haddaways, was a revival of the old Tudor mansions and cottages of the medieval era. Even the poorer families in town were building little half-timber shacks that evoked the style, and the city council had plans to model the new town square after a European city (such as Chester, England).

Haddaway Hall

The Lloyds, who were long-time friends of both the Haddaways and the Braytons (though they only associated with the Braytons because of their family connection), were the latest of the May Green elite to build a Tudor Revival mansion. Regina Lloyd was always trying to be as much like the Haddaways as possible, and when her father, Dr. Hutchins, died and left her a good sum of money, she persuaded her husband to hire the most expensive architect in the region. The result was Brynmor.

Brynmor, home of the Lloyd family

So when Harry Brayton, now the head physician at the hospital, used his inheritance from Dr. Hutchins to build something in a completely different style, the townspeople let out a collective gasp of shock. How dare he buck the firmly established norm? How ridiculous would his house look standing among all of the grand Tudor mansions? Never mind that it looked ridiculous before, when it was just a shack — he had the chance to rise within the ranks of May Green’s elite by building a grand manor, and he failed utterly.

At least, that was the opinion shared by much of the townspeople. It didn’t help that Harry had not yet finished the second floor or built the proposed third floor. And there wasn’t a half-timber wall or gothic ornament in sight.

Brayton Hill, a work in progress

The engineer behind the strange new house was a man named Mayhew Love. He was a cousin of Harry’s wife, Arianna, and had just arrived from California in order to stay with the Braytons for a few months. He had traveled all over the country studying architecture and hoped to attract the attention of some well-to-do clients so he could put his expertise into action. When Harry asked him to design Brayton Hill anew, he jumped at the chance.

Mayhew planned to stay with the Braytons until the house was completely finished, but due to the lack of funds, it was slow-going. He had designed too large a plan for their budget, and some materials had cost more than expected. At first Mayhew was angry with himself for his mistakes, but over time he became resigned to it. He knew it would be a truly remarkable house once it was finally finished. The Braytons themselves seemed very comfortable in the house and never complained about it being incomplete.

However, Harry was sensible of the gossip and its cost to Mayhew’s reputation, so he worked steadily with him in order to finish the house. Every day they would meet in the dining room to talk about the house and its progress, readjusting the budget as necessary. Both were determined to make Brayton Hill the most marvelous house in May Green.

In the meantime, the rest of the Braytons were enjoying the expanse of their new house. That is, except for Carol. As the Braytons’ maid, she had three times as much house to take care of now, and it wore her out.

Arianna helped her and gave her as much time off as she could, but there was so much to be done that Carol had very little time to herself. It didn’t help that whenever she was trying to work, Mayhew seemed to be following her, on the pretense of “checking on things”. While adjusting a light fixture or examining the seam of a window, he would glance at Carol and idly remark how well she looked.

Usually Carol would thank Mayhew curtly and go about her business, but one day her defences were down, and she returned the flirtation. She had been watching Mr. and Mrs. Brayton being affectionate with each other for years now; wasn’t it about time she dally and have some fun?

But even the occasional romp with Mayhew took up time, and Carol’s work began to suffer. When she started dinner late one night and then proceeded to burn it, Arianna drew her aside and asked her what was wrong. Carol claimed that nothing was the matter, but Arianna knew better. She had seen her cousin and Carol exchanging looks in the hallway.

Carol promised to do better, and she did, though she never quite returned to her old diligence.

(continued on page 2)