by Joan Jonker
Edwina wasn’t convinced her husband meant what he said. In a day or two he’d be so tied up in his business the whole episode would be forgotten. Then she remembered her parents. She had felt a stab of guilt when he said they were still alive, but how could she be expected to look after this big house and go visiting. And she salved her conscience by telling herself she wouldn’t be doing them a favour by inviting them here, they’d feel out of place and uncomfortable. But the mood Robert was in tonight, if she continued to thwart him, he wouldn’t think twice about telling the children their grandparents were still alive. And she couldn’t bear the thought of them condemning her. So she kept her true feelings to herself, and said, ‘Shall we wait until something crops up that doesn’t meet with your approval? Then we can discuss the situation and take it from there?’
Robert was less than satisfied. ‘If you deliberately go against my wishes, I will have no hesitation in taking over completely. That means I will attend to paying the household bills and the staff wages, and you and the children will have to ask me for every penny. It may sound harsh, but it’s the only way I can get you to understand I mean every word I’ve said tonight. You have a choice. Work with me in harmony, or suffer the consequences.’
Robert slipped off his dressing gown and laid it over the back of a pale pink velvet, elaborately carved chair. Then he climbed into bed and turned on his side, away from his wife. ‘Sleep on it, Edwina. Goodnight.’
Chapter Three
Agnes Weatherby was bending over the large, scrubbed kitchen table, a voluminous apron covering her ample figure and her sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Her hands were covered in flour as she moved the rolling pin back and forth over a piece of pastry which would be made into a mouth-watering apple pie and served with cream for the family’s dessert. She heard the back door opening and a smile covered her face. ‘Good morning, Kitty. How are you this fine morning, sunshine?’
‘Morning, Aggie.’ Kitty Higgins put her scruffy bag down at the side of the sink. She was a small woman, as thin as a rake. The second-hand coat she’d bought at Paddy’s Market about five years ago, which was now of an indistinguishable colour, hung on her like a scarecrow. But although she looked as though a puff of wind would blow her over, she was wiry, and a damn good worker. She needed to be, because at forty-five she was the sole breadwinner of the family and if she didn’t work, she and her invalid husband would be thrown out on the streets. They barely made ends meet on the money she earned, because once the rent was paid there was only enough left for pennies for the gas and a bag of coal, but at least they had a roof over their head. ‘That walk tires me out, queen. I’m all in before I bleedin’ get here!’
Agnes kept the smile on her face while she sighed inwardly. For the sake of one penny, this woman had to walk three miles, and although she might moan now and again, as everybody did, she had never once blamed her circumstances on the husband she idolised. ‘It is a long walk, Kitty. I wouldn’t fancy it meself every morning.’
‘Beggars can’t be choosers, queen, so it’s Hobson’s choice. There’s many a one in the cemetery would swap places with me.’ The little woman eyed the pastry and licked her lips. ‘Meat or apple pie?’
‘Apple, sunshine, and I’ll make sure there’s a bit over for you to take home. And before I forget, there’s some pork and vegetables in the larder, left over from yesterday. They’ll do for a meal for you and your feller.’
‘I don’t know what me and Alf would do without you, queen, we’d bleedin’ starve to death. “Our guardian angel” is what he calls yer, and he’s right.’ Kitty stood on tip-toe to reach an overall hanging from a hook behind the door and chuckled as she slipped it on. It was miles too big for her, and she looked comical. ‘I could get the bleedin’ army in here with me, and have a knees-up into the bargain.’
‘Did you have anything to eat before yer left the house?’ Aggie asked. She worried about Kitty because anyone with half an eye could see she was under-nourished. ‘And don’t bother telling lies because I can always tell.’
‘I didn’t have time, queen, I got up late. I just had time to see to Alf and swallow half a cup of tea.’
‘Then sit yerself down and I’ll make a fresh brew and some toast.’
‘But what if Miss Edwina comes in? She wouldn’t be at all happy.’ Kitty couldn’t afford to lose this job. She’d never get another one with a housekeeper like Aggie, who made sure she didn’t go home any day empty-handed. ‘She can be a right snotty bugger at times.’
‘I don’t think she will be today, somehow.’ The housekeeper nodded her head knowingly. ‘Yer see, sunshine, yer didn’t half miss a treat last night. Yer wouldn’t believe the shenanigans what went on. If it hadn’t been for Mr Robert persuading me to stay I’d have been out of that bleedin’ door with me coat on.’
‘Go ’way!’ Kitty’s eyes widened. ‘What happened, queen?’
‘Wait till I make a couple of rounds of toast and a pot of tea, then I can rest me feet while we’re having a natter.’ Agnes was nothing if not efficient. Within minutes they were sitting down with a large plate of golden-brown toast on the table and two cups of piping hot tea. But she could see Kitty’s eyes going to the door that led into the hall, and knew she was afraid of being caught out. ‘Don’t worry, sunshine. Mrs Dennison hasn’t stirred yet, nor have Miss Victoria or Mr Nigel. We’re all right for ten minutes. Mr Robert was out early because he’s got something on in Chester today, and Miss Abbie left just before you came.’
Kitty reached for a round of toast, and when she took a bite the butter oozed out and ran down her chin. Oh, what luxury, she thought. Some people don’t know they’re born, being able to have butter spread so liberally. ‘Tell us what happened, queen.’
‘Well, yer might know it was Miss Victoria what started it.’ The housekeeper related the incident from the very beginning. ‘I only asked Miss Abbie if someone had been having a go at her, and that’s when the sparks began to fly.’ Before adopting the posh voice and haughty pose of Victoria, she said, ‘Get a load of this. “I really don’t think it’s any of your concern. How dare you interfere in what is a private family matter. Now please remove these plates and bring in the dinner. I have a visitor coming soon.” Well, I wasn’t going to be spoken to like that by no one, so I told her to remove the bleedin’ plates herself!’
Kitty gasped. ‘Yer didn’t, did yer?’
‘I said a lot more, sunshine, like telling them to get their own bleedin’ dinner ’cos I was off to pack me bags as I’d had a bellyful of them.’
‘Ooh, wouldn’t I love to have been there to hear that! She’s a snooty cow, that Miss Victoria, and it’s been on the tip of me tongue many times to tell her to sod off. But I can’t afford to lose me job, so I have to keep me gob shut and take everything she wants to throw at me.’ Kitty helped herself to another piece of toast. ‘What happened then, queen?’
‘Miss Edwina begged me to stay, saying her daughter didn’t really mean what she said. But the bold one sat there without saying a word, posing like a flipping mannequin. So I said no, I was leaving. Miss Abbie was crying and said she was going to fetch her father, and when she opened the door, there he was standing there. He’d heard every word and he made Miss Victoria apologise, then took me through to his study and gave me a glass of whisky. He said he was ashamed of his daughter, and if I left, him and Miss Abbie would follow me.’ Agnes leaned her elbows on the table and grinned. ‘And how about this, sunshine? He ordered his wife to see to the family’s dinner, and while she was at it she could bring two plates through to the study. One for him and the other for yours truly.’
‘Well, I declare! Put the bleedin’ flags out and declare it a national holiday.’
‘That’s not all. He gave me the night off and the family had to wash their own dishes. So I went next door and spent a couple of hours with Tilly. And to round the day off, she had six bottles of milk stout stashed away in the scullery and we ended up in a very happy frame of mind
.’
‘You jammy bugger!’ The smile suddenly dropped from Kitty’s face. ‘Yer’d better watch out for that Miss Victoria, though, queen, ’cos she’ll have it in for yer now. It must have killed her to have to apologise to yer, and she’ll be looking for ways to get her own back. So yer’ll need to have eyes in yer backside from now on, mark my words.’
Agnes’s body shook with laughter. ‘So every time I see Miss Victoria, are yer suggesting I turn me back on her, bend down and drop me bloomers? You haven’t seen my backside, sunshine. If yer had, yer wouldn’t wish it on anyone – even Miss Hoity-Toity.’
‘If it was me, she wouldn’t even notice ’cos she never looks at me. Never by a word or a nod does she acknowledge my existence. If I didn’t move out of her way, she’d walk through me. Now I know I’m thin, and if I stand sideways yer can’t see me, but she makes me feel like an invisible woman.’
Agnes glanced at the large round clock on the wall and pushed her chair back. ‘I think yer’d better make yerself visible now, sunshine, and start on the fire in the drawing room. If anyone notices ye’re running a bit late, tell them I needed yer to help me out in the kitchen. If I’m asked I’ll say I didn’t sleep very well last night ’cos I was too upset.’ She watched the cleaner pick up the heavy bucket which contained all the articles needed for raking the ashes out, and washing and polishing the large fireplace in the drawing room. And as she often did, Agnes wondered how someone who didn’t have a pick on her, could cope with the heavy work she was required to do in this big house. ‘I’m going to start on their breakfast now ’cos they’ll be down any minute. So you get a move on in the drawing room so it’s ready for them to retire to. And when they ring for their eleven o’clock tea and biscuits, I’ll give yer the aye-aye and we’ll join them. Not in the same room, mind, but I don’t see why they should have all the fun.’
The little woman turned at the door. ‘Fun did yer say, queen? They don’t know what fun is. I’ve been working here for five years now, and I’ve never once heard a good belly laugh.’
‘Kitty, don’t you know that only people as common as muck enjoy a belly laugh?’ The housekeeper adopted a haughty stance and looked down her nose. ‘Really, Mrs Higgins, you must have been brought up in the gutter.’
‘And that’s where me and my Alf will end up if I get the sack from this job, Agnes Weatherby. It’s all right for them what are on friendly terms with the boss. But what I’d like to know is, what have you got that I haven’t?’
‘A big bosom, tummy and backside. That’s without taking into account me legs which are as big as tree trunks, arms that would put a navvy to shame, and hands like ham shanks. Does that answer yer question, sunshine?’
Kitty lowered the bucket. She’d have to work like the clappers to make up the time she was wasting, but the devil in her couldn’t resist. Lounging against the back of the door she crossed her feet at the ankles like she’d seen Miss Victoria do. Then she lifted a thin hand to within six inches of her face and opened two fingers as though holding a cigarette holder. ‘I say, old girl, you don’t have a very high opinion of yourself, what ho!’
Her lazy drawl in a posh voice, so in contrast to the raggedy clothes she had on, had Agnes doubled up with laughter. ‘Get going, yer silly cow, or we’ll both end up being given the bleedin’ sack.’
‘Has Father gone completely mad?’ Victoria’s eyes were giving out sparks as she crossed a shapely leg. ‘I have no intention of doing as he asks, and I’m quite sure I speak for Nigel, when I say that.’
‘Steady on, Victoria, I think we should discuss the matter at some length before dismissing it out of hand.’ It was so rare for Nigel to disagree with anyone, both mother and sister looked taken aback. ‘After all, Father has always been more than generous with us, and I think we should try to please him.’
‘I have no intention of going into poor houses to visit sick people! Heaven only knows what sorts of diseases we could pick up. No, it is out of the question.’
For the first time in years, a sense of unease entered Edwina’s head. Had Robert been right all along, in saying the children should have been made aware of their background from the time they could understand? Then she mentally shook her head, not allowing the idea to take root. She’d done a good job with the children, they were a credit to her. And she couldn’t understand why Robert wasn’t equally proud of them. Then she conjured up a picture of his face last night, full of determination. She had no doubt he meant every word he said, and if certain things didn’t change he would carry out his threat.
‘I have to tell you, Victoria, that your father made it quite clear that unless you and Nigel found a worthy cause where you could be usefully employed for one or two days a week, he would take over the running of the house himself. That would mean I’d no longer have control over the money; he would pay all the outgoing expenses. Any money we needed, we would have to ask him for.’
‘He’s bluffing, he wouldn’t do it.’ Victoria waved a hand as though dismissing the idea. ‘I will call his bluff.’
‘He was not bluffing, Victoria,’ Edwina said. ‘So if you refuse to do as he asks, then on your own head be it.’
Victoria was livid. She was so used to having all her requests for money granted without question, she had no intention of allowing the system to be changed without strong resistance. And when she spoke, her voice raised, her anger was evident. ‘And you, Mother? Did you just stand like a servant and let Father dictate to you? Really, you do surprise and disappoint me.’
A knock on the door had Edwina lifting both hands for silence. ‘Not one word,’ she hissed, ‘we don’t want the servants knowing our business.’ Then she called, ‘Come in, Agnes.’
The housekeeper carried the tray to a table at the side of Edwina. Her eyes appeared to be concentrating on the tray and its being deposited on the table without mishap. But she could feel the tension in the air and sly glances took in the stony expressions on the faces of the two women. ‘Shall I pour, Miss Edwina?’
‘No, thank you, Agnes, I’ll attend to it. You go about your business, I’m sure you have lots to do.’
With a nod, the housekeeper left the room. She closed the door behind her but didn’t move. She’d heard the raised voices before she’d knocked and knew Mr Robert was the target of their anger. This wasn’t fair, because he was the one who put the finest food on the table, silk sheets on the beds, and had provided furniture fit for a palace. And if it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t be sitting there now being waited on hand and foot.
Agnes sighed, and was about to walk away when she heard Miss Victoria speak. It was the venom and sarcasm in her voice that had the housekeeper rooted to the spot.
‘I don’t know why you kowtow to her, Mother – she’s only a servant, after all. She gets paid for the work she does, has a room to herself and eats the same food we do. Where else would she be so well off? She’s a good cook, I’ll grant you that, but she could easily be replaced. And don’t forget what happened yesterday. A silly little incident, brought about by herself, and she threatens to leave! I’d have let her go, and good riddance. But no, everyone is at great pains to coax her to stay. And as a result, Nigel and I are to be penalised. Well, I for one would be glad to see the back of her.’
Agnes moved away from the door, muttering, ‘Oh, yer would, would yer? Well, I won’t give yer the bleedin’ satisfaction, yer jumped-up little madam. I’ll go when Mr Robert asks me to go, and not one minute before. Now I know the way yer talk about yer father behind his back, and me, I’ll bloody well haunt yer.’ She climbed a flight of stairs to see Kitty on her knees polishing the spindles of the ornate staircase. And with the scene came the comparison. This little woman, half-starved, was forced to work just to keep a roof over her head. Apart from the husband she adored, all she had in her life was toil and worry. And yet those three downstairs didn’t even pass her the time of day because she was only a skivvy. Not worthy of a smile or a kind word. But if Agnes had to choos
e between Kitty and Victoria for a friend, she knew who’d she’d choose any day. Kitty was more caring and sympathetic than the daughter of the house would ever be. ‘Come on, sunshine, it’s time for a cuppa and one of me scones what I’ve just taken out of the oven. They’re still hot and they’ll be just the job with some butter.’
‘I’ll clear me polish and dusters away first, Aggie.’
‘Leave the bleedin’ things where they are. With a bit of luck a certain person might trip over them and break the nose she’s so fond of looking down.’ When the housekeeper took hold of Kitty’s arm, and could feel only bone, her anger increased. Why was life so bloody unfair? Not that she had any worries herself, she’d never married and only had herself to think about. But surely fate could have been kinder to Kitty Higgins? ‘I’ll take the blame if anything is said. After all, I had a very big upset last night and I haven’t got over it yet.’
When they were seated facing each other across the kitchen table, Kitty said, ‘Yer should be careful what yer say, queen, ’cos yer never know who’s listening.’
‘That cuts two ways, sunshine. They should be careful what they say in case I’m standing outside the door listening.’
‘Nah, yer wouldn’t do that!’ Kitty closed her eyes as she bit into the hot scone on which a generous portion of butter had melted. What luxury, what bliss. If only her Alf could have one of these while they were hot and oozing real best butter. ‘As I said, you wouldn’t do nothing like that.’
‘Would and have, sunshine! I’ve just heard Miss High and Mighty Victoria say she’d like to see the back of me. They say eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves, and that is probably right, but at least I heard the truth. I know where I stand now.’