by Joan Jonker
‘Yes, Mr Robert.’ The housekeeper gave Jessie a quick squeeze. ‘Yer’ll be all right, sunshine, just act natural and I’ll see yer in a bit.’ As she left the room, she cast her eyes Robert’s way. And if he’d been asked to interpret the message he read there, he’d say Agnes was telling him in a nice way that if he didn’t treat the girl right he’d have her to answer to.
‘Sit down Jessie, and tell me something about yourself. There’s no need to be nervous, I’ll just ask you a few questions and all you’ve got to do is answer. Can you do that?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘I know you have never worked for an employer before, but if you were able to choose a job, where would you choose to work? I know most children have an idea what they would like to be when they leave school, so what was your dream, Jessie?’
‘Well, sir, one day I wanted to be a nurse and help sick people, then the next day I wanted to be a film star and have lots of money.’ There was a hint of laughter in the girl’s voice when she said, ‘And I’ve dreamed of being a shop assistant in one of the posh shops in Liverpool. Like Bunney’s or Hendersons’ in Church Street. I’ve never even set foot in the shops, but I can tell from the outside that they’d be really posh inside.’ She met Robert’s eyes. ‘They were only dreams, sir, and dreams don’t often come true, do they?’
‘You are very young, my dear, with plenty of time for more dreams. And you must never give up on them, always keep the flame of hope alive. But being a scullery maid is vastly different to anything you’ve mentioned. It’s hard work, you would be at everyone’s beck and call and you would have to learn to take orders. Do you think you could do that?’
‘Oh, yes, sir! Me mam said no matter where I go to work I’ve got to do as I’m told. Always be polite, pleasant and respectful, that’s what she said. Oh, and I’m to tell yer that I’m honest, hard-working, punctual and would never let yer down.’
Robert had difficulty keeping his face straight. ‘I’m sure you are all of those things, Jessie. But are you prepared to take orders?’
Her head nodding vigorously, the girl said, ‘Of course I am. If people are nice to me, I would always be nice back.’
‘Say the person giving you an order wasn’t nice to you? Say they were bad-tempered and barked an order at you, what would you do?’
‘The truth, sir?’
‘Yes, Jessie, the truth. You see, we are badly in need of a junior maid, and I don’t want to take on someone who is only going to last a week.’
‘Right! Well, what I’d have to do, sir, is bite me tongue and get on with it.’
This time Robert didn’t try to hide his smile or the laughter that accompanied it. He had a strong feeling that beneath the shy exterior, there lurked a happy girl with a mischievous fun-loving personality. She was just what the house needed, but did she need the house and the problems that went with it? ‘Very well answered, my dear. But as you may be biting your tongue more often than you would like, may I suggest you don’t bite too deeply? Perhaps it would be better to just clamp your lips together and wait until you can pour out your troubles to Agnes or Kitty. Agnes is your best bet, because she is not afraid of anyone. If she thinks she’s in the right, even the Lord above wouldn’t change her mind. So if you have any problems, or are not sure of anything, always go to the kitchen.’ He grinned. ‘That’s what I do! If I’ve had a busy day and feel full of cares and woes, I sit on the corner of the kitchen table and unburden myself to Agnes. And I always leave the kitchen a brighter, happier man.’
I like him, Jessie thought, he’s nice. ‘So can I have the job, then, Mr Robert?’
‘I think we’ll take a chance on each other, shall we? Has Agnes told you anything about the members of the family you will have to serve?’
Jessie nodded. ‘There’s you, Mr Robert, and yer wife is Miss Edwina. Then there’s Miss Victoria, Mr Nigel and Miss Abbie. The cleaner is called Kitty, and the gardener is Pete. And Miss Aggie said if I got the job she’d show me around the house before finding me an overall to start work. She’s very kind and said she’ll help me find me feet.’
‘The wages are four shillings a week, Jessie, and the hours are eight until six, Monday to Saturday. You will have your meals here, of course, and we will provide you with working clothes. Does that satisfy you?’
The girl was more than satisfied. Her mam would be over the moon with the extra money each week. She would be able to cut down on the cleaning jobs she had and wouldn’t be tired all the time. ‘Yes, thank you.’
‘I’ll take you along to the drawing room now and introduce you to my family. All except Abbie, who is still at college. Then I’ll have to leave you in the capable hands of Agnes, as I have to go out.’
Jessie looked down at her coat when she stood up. Wanting to look as smart as she could, she ran a hand down the front to smooth out the creases. ‘I’ve already met Mr Nigel, and he was ever so friendly.’
‘Yes, my son is very easy to get along with. But I have to warn you that my wife and Miss Victoria are not so easy. They have very high standards and are rather strict. But if you do as you’re told there shouldn’t be any problems.’
As soon as Robert opened the drawing-room door, the conversation inside stopped. He hesitated briefly, knowing Nigel had, without thinking, mentioned that he’d met the new maid. His wife would be furious that he’d taken on a new member of staff without her approval, and he wondered whether he should put the shy, nervous young girl through the ordeal of meeting her and Victoria. He quickly decided it would be worse for Jessie if she met them when he wasn’t present. So he opened the door with a flourish and motioned for the girl to enter. ‘I want you to meet Jessie who is to be our new junior maid. Jessie, this is my wife, Miss Edwina and my daughter, Miss Victoria. Nigel you have already met.’
Jessie could feel the coldness of the two women in the room. They were looking at her as though she was something the cat had dragged in. But she remembered her mother’s words about being polite, so she bent her knees in a little curtsy and managed a weak smile.
‘What is your name, girl?’ Edwina asked, coldly.
‘Jessie, Miss Edwina.’
‘I’ve already been informed of that. But I presume you have a second name?’
Robert stepped in before Jessie could answer. He knew what his wife had in mind and it saddened and disgusted him. Because she couldn’t hit back at him, she would take her spite out on the young girl by calling her by her surname. ‘It makes little difference, Edwina, as she is to be known as Jessie. And as she will be taking her orders from Agnes, you have no need to bother your head. The whole idea of the exercise is to lighten the burden for Agnes and Kitty, so it is they she will be accountable to. And myself, of course.’ He looked down into a face that was no longer smiling, and eyes that held a look of bewilderment. The poor child had only been in the room a few minutes and in that short space of time she had been robbed of the joy and happiness she’d been filled with at getting her first job. Why, oh why, did his wife get satisfaction out of humiliating a fourteen-year-old girl who was unable to answer her back? She could see by the child’s clothing that she came from a poor family, but instead of showing understanding she showed nothing but scorn. ‘Jessie, run along to the kitchen and Agnes will tell you what to do.’
Robert waited until the door was closed, then, eyes blazing with anger, he looked from his wife to his daughter. ‘How dare you treat a young girl so abominably? You looked at her as though she’d just crawled from under a stone. And for the life of me I can’t think what either of you have ever done in life which gives you the right to act as though you’re a cut above the rest.’
‘Good grief, Father,’ Victoria said. ‘She’s only a servant girl, after all.’
‘Steady on, Victoria!’ Nigel uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. ‘I think Jessie’s a very nice young girl. She was very pleasant when I spoke to her earlier, and she’s certainly very pretty.’
‘Keep out of it, Nigel.�
� There was a warning in Edwina’s voice. ‘You have no idea how servants should be treated. Show them the slightest weakness and they’ll play on it. Give them an inch and they’ll take a yard.’
‘Stop this senseless bickering,’ Robert said. ‘I have told you that no one in the family, apart from myself, is to give Jessie an order. Agnes will tell her what her duties are and make sure the work is done properly. And while all the staff slave to keep this establishment running smoothly, you can carry on with your useless, idle lives. It shall be as I said, and I brook no argument.’ He turned to his son. ‘Nigel, I have a phone call to make which will take about ten minutes. Would you get the car out of the garage in readiness, please, so we can be quickly on our way?’
Nigel followed Robert from the room. He knew his mother and sister would be very critical of his father and he had no desire to hear, or be part of it. They seldom had anything good to say about anyone, and for a long time now he’d wearied of their wickedness. But he’d put up with it because he had nothing else to fill in his time. He was hoping that would change in the near future. His determination had grown in the last hour, since he’d first met Jessie. A fourteen year old working to earn money, and here was he, nearly twenty-one and never worked or earned a penny in his life.
‘We’ll go in the smoking room, Nigel, we can talk better there.’ Robert led the way, feeling so good to have his son with him. ‘The reading room is very quiet and you have to talk in whispers or suffer raised brows from the members who wish to peruse the daily papers.’
‘I say, you can tell it’s a men only club with the various smells of tobacco.’ Nigel looked around the richly appointed room as he sank into a deeply upholstered, brown leather wing-back chair. ‘But the best smell, Dad, is the smell of old wood. I prefer that to a woman’s perfume any day.’
‘I think that would depend upon the woman wearing the perfume, son.’ Robert nodded his head in greeting to another club member. ‘When the right one comes along you certainly won’t have the smell of old wood on your mind.’
‘I want to get my life sorted out before then. When you said earlier to Mother and Victoria that they led useless, idle lives, you could have included me in that. I’m not proud of it, but it’s the truth.’
‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have overreacted as I did, because heaven knows I should be used to it. But I object to anyone being humiliated, and that’s what they were doing to Jessie. Poverty doesn’t make anyone an inferior being.’
‘I went through the kitchen to the garage, and you’ll be pleased to know that Agnes and Jessie were sitting at the table enjoying a cup of tea and a good laugh. I quite envied them, actually, and if I hadn’t been coming with you, I would have joined them.’
Robert was surprised and pleased by the change in his son. What a pity he himself hadn’t tried harder and sooner. They’d lost a lot of time but he hoped to make up for it now. ‘The telephone call I made was to Jeff. I’ll tell you what we discussed and you can say if it interests you or not. And I want you to be honest, and not say something because you think it’s what I want to hear. It’s your future, your life, I’m only here to help if I can.’
‘I know that, Dad, and I appreciate it. Now, I’m all ears.’
‘I’ve known Jeff for over twenty years, when neither of us had two ha’pennies to rub together, and I trust him implicitly. He knows the business inside out, from the removal side, the auctions, how efficiently the offices are run, and he sees to all the bookwork himself. I couldn’t manage without him. And he was a lad who left school at thirteen, like myself, with no proper schooling or qualifications. He has grown with the business, which was easier than it would be for anyone now who joined the firm and had so much to learn. And I’ve asked him if he would take you on board. Not to sit in an office and look at books or filing cabinets, but to be by his side every day, watching what he does and how he does it. Not to interfere or get involved, but to learn gradually, by experience, every aspect of the business. And you couldn’t have a better teacher or work with a nicer man.’
Nigel was sitting forward, his eyes alight with interest. ‘Oh, I could work with Jeff, Dad, I think he’s a topping bloke! But are you sure that’s what he wants – me under his feet all the time? Whenever he turns his head I’ll be there, breathing down his neck.’
Robert was being drawn to his son more with each passing minute. The lad was conscious he hadn’t lived up to his father’s hopes last time and was trying to make sure it didn’t happen again. ‘I think you’re quick enough to keep from under his feet, and are too polite to breathe down his neck. Besides, Jeff doesn’t mince words, he’d soon tell you to shove off. And before you give me your answer I’d like you to know he isn’t offering to help just as a favour to me. He said he’d be pleased to have you working with him.’ Robert stroked his chin as he pondered whether to tell his son what Jeff’s last remark had been. Would he be putting Nigel under a lot of pressure, or would he be giving him a goal to aim for? He quickly decided on the latter. ‘As a matter of fact, before he put the phone down, Jeff said he’d waited long enough to see Robert Dennison and Son above our offices and on our vans.’
Nigel’s mouth gaped in surprise. ‘He said that? It was jolly decent of him, Dad! But I’ve got to prove myself worthy first, and I’ve a long way to go. But I’ll try not to let you or Jeff down. I’ll do my utmost to justify your faith in me.’
‘I’m sure you will, Nigel. And now shall we celebrate by having lunch in town? I’ll ring home and tell them not to expect us. That is, if you haven’t made other arrangements?’
‘No, Dad, I had nothing planned. Every day is very much like the day before, with nothing to look forward to the day after. I need something to stimulate my mind and body, and spending each morning in the drawing room talking about the lives of our friends, followed perhaps by a game of tennis, is hardly stimulating. I’ve felt for a long time that the life I was leading was useless and there was nothing to look forward to. But today all that has changed and I feel on top of the world. My heart is thumping and I’m having a hard job stopping myself from grinning like a Cheshire cat.’ Nigel took a deep breath before saying, ‘And the one thing above all that has made me so happy, is that you and I are sitting here, talking like father and son. That means a lot to me, Dad.’
‘And that’s how it will be from now on, I promise you,’ Robert said. ‘Abbie always comes to me with her problems, and I want you to do the same. I want us to be a close family, that’s all I’ve ever wished for.’ He took out his fobwatch. ‘I’ll have to ring home before Agnes prepares the lunch. I’ll only be two minutes.’
‘Before you go, Dad, can I ask you something?’ Nigel’s smile was shy and boyish. ‘When can I start work?’
There were a few raised brows from members of the exclusive club who were seated nearby, when Robert’s laughter rang out. It would be hard to say who was the happiest, he or his son. ‘Will Monday be soon enough?’ He sat down again and leaned forward. ‘I’m picking Kitty and her husband up at eight o’clock, so I could run you down to Jeff’s first. Or is that too early for you?’
‘No, that’s fine, I’ll ask Agnes to give me an early call.’ Nigel’s forehead was creased. ‘Did you say you were picking Kitty’s husband up as well?’
Robert nodded. ‘He’s a sick man and I thought a couple of hours in the garden would do him good. Heaven knows the garden is big enough, and fresh air is free.’
‘That’s very generous of you, Dad. No one mentioned it to me.’
‘Ah well, you see, that’s because no one knows. I haven’t told anyone because I’m aware that your mother will raise the roof. She says I’m too soft with the servants and far too familiar. I wouldn’t be swayed by her views, because if I can help someone I won’t ask permission to do so. But every time she lectures me I get a headache, so I take the easy way out. However, I will have to tell Agnes and Pete, so they can keep their eye on Mr Higgins.’
Nigel watched as his father crossed
the room, his back ramrod straight and his gait that of a man who had confidence in himself. He was a handsome man, and a good and kind one. I want to be like him when I’m older, Nigel thought. And I’m going to work hard to make him proud of me. Then came another thought that had crossed his mind many times over the last few years. Why were his mother and Victoria so different in nature to the man who provided them with the best that money could buy? They didn’t appreciate him, in fact they appeared at times to actively dislike him. But then there were very few people they did like, even those they fawned over and called friends. They never laughed, seldom even smiled, and they never saw good in anyone. If it wasn’t for his father they wouldn’t have any staff at all because they were so badly treated.
Robert came walking towards him rubbing his hands. ‘Everything’s taken care of. Oh, and Agnes said, “No matter where yer go for lunch the bleedin’ food won’t be as good as what I’d be giving yer, so there!” ’
Nigel chuckled. ‘Agnes is very funny, isn’t she?’
‘My dear boy, Agnes is a treasure and should be treated as such. Now, where shall we find food as good as hers?’
Abbie knocked on the study door when she came home from school, and her face was aglow with excitement. ‘I had to come and tell you, Dad. I couldn’t keep it bottled up until dinner-time.’
‘I don’t need to ask, it’s written all over your face. But I’ll ask anyway. You were successful, then, my dear?’
‘Signed up for every class I wanted, Dad! Shorthand, typing, book-keeping and general office work. I’m so thrilled I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.’
Robert held out his arms. ‘Come and let me give you a kiss of congratulations. I’m so pleased for you, and very proud. I think you should be rewarded, so what would you like me to buy for you?’