Murder in the Servants' Hall

by Addison, Margaret

  Rose, whose thoughts drifted back to her recent encounter with the said Albert on the stairs, when the man had been anything but gentle, felt not a little riled by Martha’s misplaced sentimentality. She had a very good mind to get up and shake the girl by her shoulders, or splash her face with cold water. Resisting the temptation to do either, she said: ‘I’m sure he can be.’

  ‘And he has matinee idol looks, don’t you think so? He could have had any girl, but he chose me.’

  Rose thought of Velda Cooper and the mistress of the house. She wondered if Martha knew about Albert’s affair with the lady’s maid, or his attempt to seduce poor Millicent. She was inclined to enlighten the girl for her own good, but on reflection decided that to do so would be unwise, particularly given the girl’s present fragile state. It might also hinder her investigations, and she must speak to Martha before Albert intervened. But neither did she wish to have to sit there and hear about the admirable qualities that poor, deluded Martha thought her young man possessed.

  ‘Look here, Martha,’ she said, ‘We might not have much time. The police will want to speak to you in a minute and I should like to ask you a few questions first.’

  ‘Oh?’ The haunted look returned to Martha’s eyes and she seemed to withdraw within herself.

  ‘I overheard your conversation with Albert in the kitchen courtyard the day before yesterday,’ said Rose, deciding that a direct approach might be best. ‘I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,’ she lied, ‘but I couldn’t help noticing that you sounded upset. I was rather anxious about you, you see.’

  Martha stared at her apprehensively, but chose to say nothing. The colour had drained from her face except for two bright spots of pink that had appeared on her cheeks.

  ‘You were discussing the diamond necklace, the one that is missing,’ said Rose, though in fact neither had referred to it by name. ‘You told Albert you knew he had it.’

  ‘I was upset,’ replied Martha, rallying a little, ‘I was thinking about that stupid little snuff box, the one that caused so much fuss. I thought just because he’d taken that, he must have taken the necklace as well. It was silly of me to think such a thing because you see he put the snuff box back. It was just a silly prank. He didn’t mean any harm by it.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Martha, but I’m afraid that really won’t do,’ said Rose firmly. ‘I couldn’t see your face because of the bedsheet. It made me listen all the more carefully to what you were saying and the way that you said it.’ She paused a moment. ‘You see, I realised that it wasn’t so much that you suspected Albert had stolen the necklace. You knew he had taken it.’

  Martha mopped her eyes with the handkerchief and looked at the floor. After a short while, she lifted her gaze so that her eyes met Rose’s.

  ‘Albert didn’t take the necklace.’

  ‘Of course he –’

  ‘I know Albert didn’t take the necklace because I did,’ said Martha quietly.

  ‘You did?’

  ‘Yes. That morning, Miss Cooper came down into the servants’ hall in ever such a foul mood. She’d just taken the mistress up her morning cup of tea and she’d spotted the necklace on top of the jewel box, ever so careless like. She said if people couldn’t be bothered to look after such valuable jewellery properly, well then they didn’t ought to have it.’

  ‘And that is when you decided to steal it?’

  ‘It was Albert who decided we should. To teach the mistress a lesson, so he said. I was to take it and then, when she discovered it was lost, he’d produce it from under the carpet or some such place and say he’d found it there. He said she’d be ever so grateful that she might even give him a reward.’

  ‘But she might not have realised it was missing for months,’ protested Rose. ‘It was only by chance that she discovered it was gone when she did.’

  ‘Well, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was to keep it safe for her,’ said the housemaid adopting a defensive tone. ‘I’m not saying I might not have taken it out and looked at it every so often when I was alone, because I might have done. I might even have put it on, just to see how it looked. But I would have kept it safe for her, and as soon as she knew it was missing, we’d have pretended we’d found it. So there would have been no harm in it.’

  ‘Is that what Albert told you would happen?’ asked Rose incredulous. She could not refrain from adding: ‘And you believed him?’ She wondered at that moment whether the girl was incredibly stupid or remarkably naïve.

  ‘I did then,’ admitted Martha blushing. ‘Of course, I don’t believe him now.’

  ‘You must have slipped in to Mrs Grayson-Smith’s room while she was in the bathroom having her bath?’

  ‘Yes. Albert said it wouldn’t look odd if anyone were to catch me. I could say something like I was checking to see what would need dusting later.’

  ‘I suppose you were afraid that the necklace would be locked away in the jewel box if you waited until you came up to tidy the room?’

  ‘Yes. And you see, it wasn’t my turn to do her room. Agnes and me, we take it in turns. It makes the job more interesting.’

  ‘What I don’t understand is how you managed to get the necklace out of the room. Your apron doesn’t have any pockets, and the necklace was too large and bulky for you to hide it about your person.’

  ‘I threw it out of the window, miss. I’m a good shot on account of having four brothers.’ For a moment Martha looked rather proud. ‘We was always playing cricket when we were children, or our version of it, anyway. I threw the necklace into one of those stone flowerpots on the terrace. I knew it wouldn’t spoil or break because the gardeners had only just forked over the soil in them the day before, so I knew it would be nice and soft.’

  ‘I see. Most ingenious. I take it you had arranged with Albert that he should take the necklace out of the flowerpot?’

  ‘Yes. He was to remove it when the coast was clear, and give it to me to hide in my drawer of the chest-of-drawers where Agnes wouldn’t see it.’ She got up from her chair and pulled out one of the drawers to illustrate. ‘I was going to wrap it up in a handkerchief and put it here under my stockings. It would have been quite safe. Only, of course, that’s not what happened.’

  ‘And thank goodness!’ exclaimed Rose. ‘It would have been discovered when the search was made of all the servants’ rooms and then you would have been in no end of trouble, Martha.’

  The housemaid bit her lip, and looked as if she were about to cry again.

  ‘Something went wrong with your plan though, didn’t it Martha?’ said Rose quickly.

  ‘Yes. Albert said he couldn’t find the necklace. According to him, it wasn’t in the flowerpot. He said I must have thrown it into another one by mistake. Awful cross with me, he was. And I was just as angry with him because I knew I’d thrown it into the right one.’ She stared at her hands, which rested in her lap. ‘Of course, I knew he was lying about not finding the necklace. He was putting on an act. Even him being furious with me didn’t last very long. He pretended we’d have to check all the other flowerpots. ’Course it were all an act. I knew that. He’d stolen it. He wasn’t ever going to give the necklace back to the mistress. He was going to sell it and keep the money for himself. He was a thief and he’s made me one too.’

  ‘It’s possible I may be able to recover the necklace, Martha. I can’t promise you I will, but I shall do my very best.’

  ‘Oh, will you, miss? I’d be ever so grateful.’

  ‘Yes. And if we recover it, your mistress might never need to know what happened.’

  ‘You mean I wouldn’t lose my job?’ Martha brightened considerably. ‘And I wouldn’t have to go to prison?’

  ‘No.’

  Suddenly a cloud passed over Martha’s face and her expression again became strained.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Rose considerably alarmed by Martha’s transformation.

  ‘I’d forgotten about Albert.’

  ‘That young man can look after himsel
f,’ Rose said with feeling. ‘I daresay some time in prison would do him the world of good, though I suppose it’d be too much to expect him to change his ways.’ She stretched out her arm and took one of Martha’s hands in hers. ‘Listen to me, Martha. I know this will be hard, but you must try and forget Albert. He’ll never do you any good, and you don’t owe him anything.’

  ‘I know that, miss. I know you are right.’

  ‘Well, then –’

  ‘It’s not that, miss, that’s worrying me. It’s … Oh, miss, he did it. Albert did her in.’

  ‘What? Are you saying Albert killed Miss Cooper?’

  ‘Yes,’ cried Martha, covering her face with her hands. ‘I didn’t want to say nothing. I didn’t want to see him hang. I know he’s wicked but –’

  ‘Martha, how do you know that Albert killed Miss Cooper? Did he tell you he had?’ An awful thought suddenly crossed Rose’s mind. ‘You weren’t … you weren’t there when it happened?’

  ‘No, miss, of course not,’ Martha looked appalled. ‘It was just something he said that made me think he didn’t like her. Always watching her, he was, as if he didn’t trust her. And the things she said about him in the servants’ hall. Why, you were there yourself, miss. You must have heard how she went on at him something awful?’

  ‘Yes, I did,’ said Rose, trying to hide her disappointment.

  For a moment she had thought Martha had something important to tell her, that she was in possession of some evidence that would prove Albert’s guilt. But it appeared the girl knew nothing of substance, her knowledge only confirmed what Rose had already suspected or could ordinarily have assumed. In public, Albert cast only furtive glances at Cooper. To any observer who scrutinised his movements closely, such as the besotted Martha, his manner would naturally appear stealthy and surreptitious. And he had participated in a brilliant charade with the lady’s maid, the intention of which had now become apparent. Their aim had been to make everyone think that they violently disliked one another, to divert suspicion from their true relations. She admonished herself severely, for she should have had some inkling that the scene was not as it appeared. The confrontation had been far too staged and dramatic.

  ‘I knew he didn’t like her,’ cried Martha. ‘But still I wouldn’t have thought he’d … Last night, when I was in bed, thoughts kept rushing around in my head and I couldn’t sleep for worrying. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that we’d stolen the mistress’ necklace. I knew Albert wasn’t going to give it back. It was eating away at me knowing that. And Albert had been avoiding me. He didn’t want to talk about it. Well, I’d decided that I had had enough. I couldn’t go on like that. It was making me ill, and everyone had noticed and was commenting on it.’ She bent forward and whispered: ‘I think Mrs Field was afraid I had got myself into trouble, I looked that pale. Anyway, I had made my mind up that I was going to talk to Albert in the morning and let him know I intended to tell Mr Mason everything.’

  Inwardly Rose uttered a sigh of relief that Martha had not had the opportunity to do so. But for providence, there might well have been two bodies found that morning instead of one.

  ‘I’d made my decision,’ Martha was saying. ‘But I still couldn’t get to sleep. I got it into my head, you see, that I wouldn’t have a chance to speak to Albert in the morning. He’d make sure he was busy or wasn’t alone. He didn’t want me to go on about the necklace.’

  ‘So what did you do?’ asked Rose, her eyes gleaming with renewed interest.

  ‘I couldn’t help thinking that there was no time like the present. Albert had a room of his own, you see, so I knew we wouldn’t be disturbed. He used to share the room with Archie, who was the first footman, but he went off to London and his position hasn’t been filled, nor never will be, if you listen to Agnes.’

  ‘What about your reputation? Weren’t you afraid it might be ruined? If anyone had caught you –’

  ‘But they didn’t. Oh, miss. I was that upset about the necklace, I couldn’t think about anything else. You know, this house isn’t like some places I’ve worked in. There they have a door between the male and female staff’s quarters that is kept locked. They don’t have one here, which is funny when you think how particular Mrs Field is.’

  ‘Go on,’ said Rose. ‘Did you go to Albert’s room?’

  ‘Yes. I opened his door ever so quiet like and … and he wasn’t there. His bed, it hadn’t even been slept in. Oh, miss. I was so afraid. I thought he was doing some more thieving while the whole house was asleep. I was that upset, I ran back to my room and cried myself to sleep. It was only this morning when I learned that Miss Cooper had been murdered that I wondered whether –’

  ‘That was what he had been up to?’ supplied Rose.

  ‘Yes. But it wasn’t just that, miss. Mr Mason, he locks the doors to the main house at night. I never knew that until Agnes told me this morning. So you see, Albert couldn’t have been thieving because he wouldn’t have been able to leave the servants’ quarters. The only place he could have gone was downstairs into the workrooms. And I can’t see he’d have had any reason to go into the kitchen or the scullery or the boot room –’

  ‘But he might well have had reason to go into the servants’ hall,’ said Rose.

  The two girls made their way quickly downstairs to eat what was left of the food set out for them in the scullery. Glancing at her companion, Rose was relieved to see that some of the natural colour had returned to Martha’s complexion. The girl could not be said to be happy, but there was certainly an improvement in her mental state. She was quiet, but she was not sobbing. She had clearly resigned herself to the situation and decided to make the best of it. The heavy secret she had been carrying, which had been eating her up inside, was gone. The very process of confiding in someone like Rose had been cathartic.

  As they came into the passage, Rose caught a brief glimpse of Mason, standing before his pantry. It reminded her that she still had to speak to him, and she wondered whether he had been waiting for her. Telling Martha to go on without her, and that she would catch her up in a minute, Rose made her way to the butler’s pantry. The passage was quiet and almost deserted now, the majority of the servants having had their meals and returned to their duties. Mason himself had already disappeared into the preserve of his pantry, and it was with a strange sense of foreboding that Rose knocked tentatively on the door.

  ‘Oh, do come in, Miss Denning,’ said the butler rising from his seat behind the desk. ‘Will you not sit down?’

  He beckoned to the chair in front of his desk, but Rose chose to remain standing, resting her hand instead on the back of the proffered chair.

  ‘If you don’t have any objection, I should prefer to stand,’ she said rather primly.

  ‘As you wish,’ replied Mason, his manner strangely deferential given his understanding that her position was that of a lady’s maid.

  For a moment, Rose wondered whether he knew her true identity, but dismissed the idea almost at once. She thought it unlikely that Pearl and Edna would have told him. Martha was the only other person among the servants to know, and she had had no opportunity to do so, for Rose had accompanied her down from the attics and not left her side until she had come in search of the butler. It was only once the conversation progressed that Rose realised that the butler’s oddly respectful manner towards her was due to acute embarrassment. He had caught her in an awful situation with his nephew which, by anyone’s standards, and certainly by the values of a diligent and upstanding butler, should have led to Albert’s immediate dismissal.

  There was an awkward silence, with neither knowing quite how to begin. Mason appeared suddenly intrigued by the papers scattered on his desk in front of him, though closer inspection would have revealed his eyes were glazed. Meanwhile, Rose had let her gaze drift to the mahogany safe cabinet, the temporary resting place of the ill-fated necklace.

  The butler coughed. ‘Albert … Albert –’ he began.

  ‘Albert is a very d
angerous young man, as well you know, Mr Mason,’ said Rose rather abruptly. ‘If you hadn’t come upon us when you did, I don’t even want to think about what might have happened.’

  ‘Albert does have a violent temper that needs to be checked,’ admitted the butler, speaking very quietly.

  ‘That is an understatement to say the least!’ cried Rose. ‘Did you not see that he had his hands about my throat? I feared for my life, Mr Mason.’ She found herself suddenly consumed with an overwhelming anger. It may have been this, or the delayed shock from the incident itself, which had the effect of loosening her tongue so that her words seemed to run away with themselves before she could check them. ‘A member of your staff lies dead in your servants’ hall, and the police are very much of the opinion that Albert killed her.’

  ‘How … how can you possibly know that?’

  The butler’s face was ashen. In a few seconds he seemed to have aged years, the lines on his face had become deeper and more numerous, and the black smudges under his eyes were accentuated by his pale complexion. To even the most casual observer, it was obvious that the news had unsettled him. To Rose, who watched him closely, it was also apparent that her words, uttered so recklessly, also confirmed his very worst fears. Immediately she regretted her outburst. It suggested that she was in the confidence of the police. At a loss as to how she might answer his question, she finally settled on posing one of her own.

  ‘Well, you tell me why you insist on protecting Albert?’ She held up a hand as Mason made to protest and her voice rose. ‘You suspect him of the murder of Miss Cooper. You are fully aware that he intended to do me harm. And, even before the events of today, you knew him to be a thief. Yet you have not dismissed him.’ She gave a sigh of frustration. ‘Why, I have never met a man more ill-suited for the position of footman.’

  ‘Miss Denning, please!’ cried Mason, looking appalled.

  ‘I know Albert is your nephew and you feel that you have a responsibility towards him and your sister,’ Rose said more quietly, ‘But you would never accept such disgraceful behaviour and wilful insolence from another servant.’