by Val Wood
‘Is Stephen not here?’ Arabella asked. ‘We were hoping to see him. Pearl especially wanted to see him.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Jenny gathered Thomas up from his crib. ‘He’s had to go back into Beverley – on business.’ She felt bad about the lie, but Stephen had particularly asked that she didn’t tell his sisters about his working on the railway line. He had come home from his first day at work aching and weary. He had been employed all of the day in digging out a trench in preparation for the line, and throwing the resultant earth into a waggon.
‘Some of these navvies can shift twice as much as me,’ he’d said. ‘I thought I was strong but they have muscles like iron and can dig a yard deep whilst I’ve got my back turned.’
She thought when he fell into bed beside her that she could smell alcohol on his breath, but then considered that she must be mistaken. Where he was working there would be nowhere he could have bought any, even if he had had any money.
He had said goodbye to her this morning and said he guessed that his sisters might come that day. ‘I hope that they do,’ he said. ‘I don’t get any wages until the end of the week.’ There were no rabbits caught in the trap he had set the night before and therefore nothing to cook for dinner. Jenny had made barley broth and fed it to the children and then baked bread which was hard and bitter; there were a few hens’ eggs which she saved for Stephen’s supper. The ducks had stopped laying but each day she had searched along by the stream to see if they had laid away from the barn.
‘We’ll have to kill another hen,’ she’d said reluctantly before he left. ‘Otherwise there’s nothing to eat but the last of the potatoes.’
He’d nodded. ‘Do that,’ he said, ‘if they don’t come. But if they come don’t tell them how hard it is. I don’t want them gloating!’
‘They won’t gloat, Stephen!’ She’d spoken more sharply than she intended. ‘Pearl was concerned when she came before. Her intentions were good, I’m sure of it.’
He’d just grunted and gone out of the door, but he returned a minute later and gave her a kiss on her cheek. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll make it up to you one day.’
She’d heated some water and washed the children and brushed Christina’s thick hair and tidied the kitchen as she waited and hoped that Stephen’s sisters would come.
‘What kind of business has he gone on?’ Pearl said perceptively. ‘Or is it an excuse not to see me?’
‘No,’ Jenny said quickly. ‘Of course not. We didn’t know which day you’d be coming. We – we thought it might be tomorrow, that’s why he went today.’
‘Papa’s building a railway line for the trains,’ Christina piped up, ‘and when he comes near here I’m going to wave to him.’
The two sisters looked silently at Jenny, whose lips trembled. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘He didn’t want you to know.’
‘Stubborn!’ Pearl said, her mouth set tightly. ‘Stubborn, stubborn man! Just like his father!’
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
‘We’ve new servants starting tomorrow,’ Arabella moaned as they travelled towards Laslett Hall. ‘I do hate this time of year. I never know what I should tell them to do. Cook is staying on, fortunately, and Dolly; but we’ve two new maids coming and a general lad.’
‘Did the other one leave?’ Jenny asked, thinking of the boy who pulled off Mr Laslett’s boots.
‘Yes. They never stay longer than the year,’ Pearl sniffed. ‘Not the young ones anyway. Father is very hard on them.’
‘It’s not easy being a servant,’ Jenny murmured. ‘Being at everyone’s beck and call.’
The two women glanced at her and Jenny blushed. ‘Though it must be worse working in a mill or a factory – for a woman I mean,’ she added feebly.
‘Very true,’ Pearl broke in. ‘And if a servant can get into a good house at least they’re fed and supplied with clothes to wear.’
Which comes out of their wages, Jenny thought. It doesn’t come free. She glanced down at her own old skirt, which though clean and washed was stained with years of usage, and she surreptitiously compared it with the travelling attire that Pearl and Arabella were wearing, which was warm and practical and of good cloth. Has Stephen’s father told them that I was a kitchen maid? she wondered. They know I was Stephen’s housekeeper, which is quite a good status, in my eyes at any rate.
‘You must learn to be more practical, Bella,’ Pearl commented to her sister. ‘You must tell them how you like things to be; otherwise they’ll only do the minimum. Perhaps Jenny could help you. Could you, Jenny? You know how to run a house and how to cook. I’m amazed that you can do so much and look after the children as well.’ She smiled reassuringly at Jenny, and then raised an eyebrow. ‘Arabella is such a dizzy thing sometimes.’
‘I’d be glad to help,’ Jenny said. ‘If Arabella doesn’t mind.’
‘I wouldn’t mind at all,’ Arabella said enthusiastically. ‘I would welcome your help. I’m quite sure the servants take advantage of me because I don’t notice when something wants dusting or the sheets need changing.’
Jenny was astonished. ‘Good servants should have a routine,’ she said. ‘Though usually a housekeeper would organize them.’
‘Papa won’t have a housekeeper.’ Arabella pouted. ‘Though we had one in Mama’s day. He says I should be able to tell them what to do. Will you tell them for me, Jenny? Please!’
‘But – I’m a house guest. I thought you meant just to advise you on what to tell them. I didn’t realize you meant me to give them orders!’ Jenny knew that the servants wouldn’t take kindly to a virtual stranger’s giving them instructions.
‘But the new maids won’t know who you are. Cook has taken them on.’ Arabella’s eyes sparkled. ‘Suppose I pretend to be unwell and you can say that I’ve asked you to advise them! How would that be?’
Pearl gave a deep sigh and shook her head. ‘You see!’ she said. ‘Arabella is quite impossible!’ She eyed Jenny keenly. ‘Might be worth a try, though.’ She gave a little smile. ‘It would be good practice for you, Jenny. In case Stephen ever decides to come back home.’
I’m on trial here, Jenny realized. Although Arabella probably does need some help with the servants, Pearl is testing me, trying me out to see how I shape up to becoming part of the family. And I wonder if Mr Laslett is part of this plan? ‘All right,’ she agreed. ‘If you’re sure.’
When they arrived at Laslett Hall, Pearl departed immediately for her own home, and Arabella started to swoon with apparent fatigue, and with her hand to her forehead swayed across the hall. Dolly had opened the door to greet them and followed Arabella, Jenny and the children into the sitting room. ‘I’m pleased to see that you’re still here, Dolly,’ Jenny said, ‘and not gone on elsewhere.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Dolly dipped her knee. ‘I’ve stayed on but we’ve two new maids coming in ’morning.’
‘So I understand. Miss Arabella is unwell, as you see,’ Jenny said, looking at Arabella who was reclining on the sofa fanning herself, even though the room wasn’t very warm. ‘Would you bring her a little brandy and hot water, please?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Have you caught a chill, Miss Arabella?’
‘I think so,’ Arabella said faintly. ‘Take your instructions from Mrs Laslett, Dolly. Do whatever she says, for I think I’m going to be laid up for a little while.’
‘Very well, miss. Is there anything else, Mrs Laslett?’ Dolly glanced from Arabella to Jenny.
‘A tray of tea and bread and butter, please, and milk and biscuits for ’children.’
Dolly smiled down at Christina and put out her hand to her. ‘Are you coming down to ’kitchen wi’ me?’ she asked the child, and Christina jumped to her feet.
‘Not yet,’ Jenny said firmly. ‘She must eat first and take a little rest, and then she can come.’ And I must tidy her up before anyone else sees her in her old clothes, she thought, or there’ll be some gossip.
‘Pearl has had a trunk taken up to your roo
m.’ Arabella spoke languidly from the sofa after Dolly had gone out. ‘It’s full of clothes that belonged to her daughters. She asked if you would mind sorting through them, and said if there was anything that would fit Christina to take them, and if not hand them on to the servants. Dolly has a sister with children. She’d be glad of them, I expect.’
How thoughtful of Pearl. Jenny heaved an inner sigh. She’d obviously noticed how shabby we all looked when she called last time. Hand-me-downs! Stephen would be furious if he knew, yet it seems quite normal to me. It’s what we always did when I was a child. Seems a waste otherwise.
After she had fed Thomas and the twins had drunk their milk, she put them to bed for a nap and then asked Christina to help her sort out the trunk. ‘Let’s see what’s in here,’ she said, making it into a game. ‘Let’s see what Aunt Pearl has sent us.’
She opened the lid and removed the top layer of brown paper and brought out a child’s dress of spotted muslin.
‘Oh!’ Christina clutched it. ‘Mine.’
‘It’s too cold for wearing now,’ Jenny said. ‘It’s a summer dress, and look, Christina, here’s a little coat to match. We’ll keep that until summer, and it will fit you then. It’s too big for you to wear now.’
She lifted another layer of paper. There was a navy wool dress with red stitching round the hem, and a crisp white pinafore to go over the top. A green one in a similar style, and a grey wool coat, several pairs of white and black stockings, shoes and buttoned boots, which looked brand new in spite of the scratches on the soles, which Jenny suspected had been done deliberately, to hide their newness.
Christina fumbled with her buttons, undressing so that she could try on the new clothes, and Jenny, digging deeper into the trunk, found wool and flannel skirts, cotton blouses, a grey dress, and numerous petticoats, all of which would fit her or could be cut down to make clothes for Christina. These must have been Pearl’s own, she thought, perhaps before she had her children, for they certainly wouldn’t fit her now. Pearl was well rounded and comfortably plump, unlike Arabella who was thin, like Stephen.
Jenny rocked back on her heels. Am I being greedy keeping all of these? she thought. Is my need greater than that of Dolly’s sister? She shook out one of the skirts. It was made from plain grey flannel and was wide at the waist. I’d have to take it in anyway, she thought. I could leave that; there are enough here for me. I don’t need so many garments. I’ve never had more than one change of clothes in my life. Why would I want more?
Christina was struggling to fit into the green dress. ‘It’s too small, sweetheart,’ Jenny said. ‘We’ll give it to another little girl.’
‘I want it,’ Christina pleaded. ‘It’s for me!’
‘No. The other one is for you, and the pretty one.’ She held up the muslin. ‘Or shall we give this to another little girl instead?’
‘No. This is mine.’ Christina snatched it back and struggled out of the green dress. ‘The little girl can have this one. What’s her name?’ she said. ‘Can I play with her?’
‘I don’t know her name,’ Jenny smiled, ‘and I don’t know if you can play with her for I don’t know where she lives. But perhaps you could play with some of your cousins. I’ll ask Aunt Arabella about that.’
‘What are cousins?’ Christina asked.
Jenny hesitated. Of course, strictly, they were not Christina’s cousins at all. Would it matter? she wondered. That Christina wasn’t a Laslett? That she didn’t have a father whom she could name?
‘We don’t see them,’ Arabella said, when she asked about the cousins later that afternoon. ‘Laura and Maud hardly ever come over with the children, though they could; they both have a carriage. Father frightens the children.’
Jenny laughed. ‘He doesn’t frighten Christina!’
‘No, he doesn’t, does he? Odd that!’ Arabella rose from the sofa. ‘I think I’ll take a lie down on my bed, Jenny. It might do me good to have a sleep as I’m a little unwell.’
‘But –’ Jenny gazed at her in astonishment. ‘You’re not really unwell, Arabella. We’re only pretending!’
Disappointment showed on Arabella’s face. ‘Are we? Oh, but I do feel a trifle out of sorts, and besides, if Father comes in, he’ll expect me to have primed Cook and Dolly to arrange the tasks for the new servants. And I haven’t.’ She pressed her lips together. ‘Will you do that for me, Jenny? Please!’
‘What will your father say?’ Jenny asked. ‘I’m supposed to be here on a visit. He might be angry.’
‘He won’t be at all bothered as long as he isn’t inconvenienced.’ Arabella slid towards the door, opened it, smiled and was gone.
Well, this is a fine thing, Jenny thought. Am I now supposed to twiddle my thumbs until supper? She gazed out of the window and towards the rolling grassland. I could take Christina for a walk whilst the babies are asleep, but it’s getting dark and looking like rain, or snow. She sighed. Stephen, I wonder what you’re doing? Will you have finished work and come home to find an empty house? I hope you remember to eat. She sighed again, and then turning to the fireplace she pressed the bell on the wall beside it.
Dolly answered the bell and brought Christina with her. Jenny had dressed her in the navy dress and white pinafore, and brushed her hair, and she thought how sweet she looked.
‘Mama!’ She rushed towards Jenny. ‘Dolly said that one day I’ll be able to play with her children.’
Jenny gazed enquiringly at Dolly who smiled and said, ‘My sister’s bairns, ma’am. Sometimes she comes over this way and drops in to see me. She doesn’t stay long,’ she added quickly. ‘It’s onny to say hello.’
And pick up a slice of meat or a loaf of bread, I’ll be bound, Jenny thought, but said nothing, only nodded, for she knew how things went on downstairs, where friends of the servants would knock on the kitchen door in expectation of a little treat.
‘Dolly!’ she said. ‘Miss Arabella has gone to her room. She’s feeling unwell and has asked me if I will organize the duties for ’new servants who are starting tomorrow. Can you tell me first of all what you do?’
Dolly stared, then, licking her lips, said, ‘Well, Mrs Laslett, right now I’m maid of all work, cos there’s onny Cook and me what’s left. All of ’others have gone, and nobody ever before has ever thought to ask me what I do.’ She warmed to her theme. ‘If it wasn’t so convenient for me, being near home, I wouldn’t stop either.’
‘Yes, I understand. There’s far too much to do for one person. What about Cook? Does she have any help at present?’
‘Just a scullery lass. She’s from round here. I got her meself. She started just a day or two ago. Cook said she wasn’t going to wash any pots and pans, and I didn’t have time to do them, what with doing ’fires and making ’beds, waiting on table and a bit o’ dusting. I’ll be glad to have these new young women!’
‘And who chose them?’ Jenny asked.
‘We did, ma’am. Cook and me. She picked one for ’kitchen and I picked one to help me upstairs. Oh, and Mr Laslett picked ’lad for general.’
‘Well, send them up to me when they arrive and I’ll tell them their duties. Have they had positions before? Did they come with references?’
Dolly looked down at her feet. ‘Onny in a manner of speaking. They’re relatives of mine, you see, Mrs Laslett. But I checked with Miss Arabella; she said it would be all right,’ she hastened to add. ‘But they’ll not take advantage. I’ll make sure of that.’
‘That’s right, they won’t,’ Jenny said firmly. ‘What I’ll do, Dolly, is make you senior housemaid, seeing as there is no housekeeper at present.’ She hoped that it sounded as if there might be one in the future, which would keep Dolly on her toes. ‘The other upstairs maid will answer to you and you’ll answer to me, until Miss Arabella is feeling better,’ she added.
‘Thank you, ma’am.’ Dolly beamed at her, then said worriedly, ‘I hope as Miss Arabella isn’t seriously ill?’
‘No, she’s not,’ Jenny assured
her. ‘Just a little under ’weather at the moment. She’ll soon be up and about. I’ll tell ’upstairs maid her duties, which of course you know already,’ she continued. ‘She’ll be up at five thirty, draw ’curtains or ’shutters in all the rooms, clean the fireplaces and prepare ’fires for lighting. Then she’ll clean the rooms, shaking ’rugs outside to be rid of any soot or coal.’ Jenny drew heavily on her own experience at the Ingrams’ house. ‘It will be your responsibility to make sure that ’work is finished and a fire lit in ’breakfast room before Mr Laslett comes down for his breakfast. The other fires can be lit after he has gone out.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Dolly said in a small voice. ‘And what about ’kitchen maid? Will you see her as well?’
Jenny knew very well who ruled in the kitchens, and it wasn’t the mistress of the house. It was imperative, if the household was to run well, that the cook was kept sweet. ‘I’ll come downstairs and see Cook myself,’ she said. ‘Tell her I’ll be down in twenty minutes and we’ll discuss what she would like ’new kitchen maid to do.’
‘Twenty minutes, ma’am?’ Dolly said.
‘Yes,’ Jenny answered. ‘Any later than that and Cook will be busy preparing supper. Tell her I won’t keep her long.’ She also knew that it would give the cook sufficient time to finish what she was doing, wash her hands and straighten her cap, but without giving her time to become disgruntled at someone from upstairs interfering.
It would have been more usual for Cook to be summoned upstairs, but Jenny wanted to see the kitchens for herself and find out how well they were run. Cook was obviously good at her profession for she produced nourishing food and excellent pastries and pies, as Stephen had testified on receiving the curd cheesecake, but Jenny wondered how she managed with so little help.
When she went down exactly twenty minutes later, Cook was standing by her well-scrubbed table with a large mixing bowl, a crock of flour and a dish of butter in front of her as if she was ready to start baking.
