"Yes, right there, Martha. Thank you. That hits the spot," the Dowager Duchess Elena said with a contented sigh. A young maid was giving her a massage as she sat in her favorite armchair in the grand, sunlit drawing room of the Carson estate.
Martha, the maid, replied with a warm, respectful smile, her hands never ceasing their work on Elena's tired shoulders. "My mother normally does this for my father back in our village, Your Grace. She says it relaxes his muscles and gives him more strength, especially after he comes home from selling a lot of our farm produce at the market."
"You don't say," Elena replied, her eyes closed in blissful relaxation. "Wow. Well, you have really learned from the best then. You are a natural at this, my dear." Elena closed her eyes completely as Martha's skilled fingers began to get to the really good part, the tense knot of muscles at the base of her neck.
