Dora Annie
Page 3
Dora felt very small, vulnerable and alone, and also extremely nervous, but she tried very hard not to show this, straightening her back and hoping to look confident. She was greeted by the butler, who passed her on to the cook, a round, cottage-loaf-shaped lady with twinkling blue eyes.
“Now be welcome, Dora, I hope you will be very happy with us,” she said, and gave her a cup of tea and some toast at the big scrubbed kitchen table.
When Dora went to look for her tin box, which had been packed so carefully by her family, it was nowhere to be found. She cried and cried so hard that her pretty face became red, blotchy and puffy.
The butler, a very tall, grand man, comforted her and said, “Don’t worry, child, we will soon find it.” And very soon he did, to her great relief. It had been placed in a corner by the scullery door, behind some other luggage.
There were many back stairs in the house, so that the Huxtables saw and mixed with the servants as little as possible, which suited both parties. Dora was shown up one of these staircases by another kitchen maid, Elspeth, who was plain to look at, rather sturdy, but very kind and welcoming. They were to share a room right at the top of the huge house.
“Don’t worry, Dora, as long as you work hard everything will be well,” Elspeth promised.
The next morning Dora started at six o’clock. Her first job was to clear the grates in the kitchen and light the cooking range. Elspeth showed her what to do, and they worked hard together and soon had everything ready. Water on the boil, kitchen flagstones scrubbed and polished, and everything spick and span for when Cook and her helpers arrived in the kitchen.
What a lot there was to do; washing the dishes and pans as they were used; fetching steaming serving dishes, loaded with the most wonderful food, from the cook and carrying them to the servants who were waiting by the dining-room door to serve at the Huxtables’ grand table; and of course returning the dirty plates and dishes to the kitchen. Dora didn’t really have time to be hungry, rushing here and there with not a minute to spare, but the sight of all this delicious food was giving her a very good appetite.
Fifteen minutes before breakfast, family prayers were said with the whole household present. The Huxtables kept a large staff including the housekeeper, the butler, four footmen, the cook, five kitchen maids, many housemaids, the schoolroom maid, the nanny, the governess and the nursemaid. Then when the family had eaten it was time for the servants to enjoy a very hearty breakfast: sausages, bacon, black pudding, eggs, and hot buttered toast with a choice of marmalade, jam or honey. The butler sat at the head of one table; the housekeeper at the other. They were the senior servants in the household, and all the other servants deferred to them.
Dora was truly in awe of this huge house; she was always getting lost and having to ask the way around. The enormous drawing rooms, sitting rooms and bedrooms all had very high ceilings, decorated with mouldings of delicate beauty. The soft furnishings were lavish; exquisite sofas and chairs, and lots of gold leaf on the huge and small tables. Beautifully embroidered tapestry bedecked the walls of some of the rooms. Many of the bedrooms had four-poster beds with rich silk hangings.
Her first day passed very quickly but was exhausting, and Dora was grateful to climb the stairs, say her prayers and snuggle into bed. She was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
She found it difficult to adjust to this utterly different life. Everything had to be perfectly executed as no mistakes or shoddiness would be tolerated. If you polished the kitchen pans and appliances these would be inspected by the eagle eye of Cook, and woe betide you if your work was found to be at fault. When Dora lit the various log fires all over the house, these had to be burning brightly, the fire irons polished and all in perfect order before the Huxtables were up and about.
When Dora had been with the Huxtables for about six months there was a change in her life. The family had several children, one of them a four-year-old boy, Charlie, who was a little fiend. He kicked, scratched and was very spiteful. His mother and nanny would not allow him to be smacked. He looked like a little angel, with fair curls and big blue eyes. But the poor little nursemaid who had been looking after him could stand it no more and, although jobs were very scarce in those days, she left hers because of this dreadful child.
As Dora came from a large family she was asked to stand in for the nursemaid. The first thing that Charlie did was to kick her in the shins. Then he punched her and pulled her long hair.
“You little brat, I won’t let you get away with this!” she said. So she kicked him back, grabbed his curls and gave him a good hiding, slapping the backs of his legs until he cried.
As it happened, Lord Huxtable was standing in the doorway, watching all of this. Dora’s heart sank. Surely she was going to get the sack now. But to her surprise, he was on her side. “Good for you, Larner, it’s just what he needed,” he said approvingly.
After this the child respected her, and later came to love her. As a result she was very well liked by the family and was promoted from the kitchen to the nursery; a huge promotion for someone so young, and only fifteen.
Dora was very happy as a nursery maid. It was nothing like such hard work as it had been down in the kitchens, where she was at the constant beck and call of Cook, with barely time to catch her breath or sit down.
The nursery routine suited her well. Up early to bathe the new baby girl, Charlotte, and then settle her down for her bottle-feed. When that was done she bathed Charlie, who had become her persistent shadow since their initial set-to. At heart he was really a pleasant little boy, very bright and eager to please, but he still had a bad temper and there was many a tussle between them. Sometimes Dora had to slap his legs to keep him in order and remind him who was in charge.
Charlie followed Dora everywhere, back and forth, up and down the stairs, even wanting to help with all her chores. Nanny Roberts, who had been employed by the Huxtables for many years, a tall, big woman with dark hair and expressive brown eyes, was amazed.
“How on earth have you tamed him, Dora? It’s a miracle; I couldn’t do it.”
Dora made no reply and just smiled, knowing that Lord Huxtable would support her if Charlie ever complained.
The following year, Charlie started proper lessons in the schoolroom. Lord and Lady Huxtable employed David, who had just come down from Cambridge, as Charlie’s tutor. He was a very good-looking young man, average height with fair hair and slate-blue eyes. He had high cheekbones and a very interesting mouth. Dora met him for the first time in the library, and she was immediately enchanted. He was polite and charming, and really made her heart flutter.
Lord Huxtable had made a great favourite of Dora and encouraged her to read any of the books she took a fancy to in his enormous library, which was a huge privilege. In her spare time she spent many hours poring over these beautiful books. Some of them were very hard to understand, but she refused to be beaten by them, looking up words she didn’t know in the dictionary. Dora was so happy to be learning more about a fascinating world so different from her own experience.
Lady Huxtable was a very busy lady and ran the Devon Nursing Association, which she had set up to provide nursing services for the poor, as this was long before England had a free National Health Service.
Lysette, Lady Huxtable’s lady’s maid, had to return to her home in Paris because her mother was very ill, and this left a vacancy amongst the staff. Lady Huxtable summoned Dora to see her in one of the smaller drawing rooms.
“How would you like to try and take Lysette’s place, Dora?” she said.
Dora was so excited she could hardly speak. “Yes please,” she managed to gasp. To be a lady’s maid was to be at the very top of the ladder for female servants. What a wonderful job for someone of her age! She would have to care for all of Lady Huxtable’s beautiful clothes, dress her hair, arrange her jewellery to match each outfit, and be at hand whenever she was n
eeded. I am so lucky, thought Dora, once she had recovered from the shock. I must be very careful not to make any mistakes or do anything silly. Everything must be in order.
When Dora was seventeen Lord Huxtable was made Governor of Newfoundland in Canada, and she travelled there with the family by ship. What an adventure! The storms were so fierce that the steam-driven ship had to be battened down for four days. With nobody allowed on deck Dora was frightened at first, but soon got used to the restrictions and was happy to help the family where she could. She was fortunate in that she did not suffer from seasickness and so she was able to assist some of the passengers. A lot of people were very green of face and completely exhausted.
Once the storms abated they were able to have their Christmas lunch, which was enormous fun, and everybody enjoyed the festivities. Dora loved going out to the deck to look at the sea and sky. She saw a lot of dolphins as they drew nearer to land, and they seemed to play with the ship, as if enjoying a delightful game.
David was also with the family on this adventure. He had become a very good friend to Dora and she hoped that, given time, they might grow closer.
Standing on the deck at the bow of the ship, Dora saw, very faintly and for the first time, the New World of Canada. How strange and exciting, she thought. I wonder what on earth is in store for me there, such a very long way from home.
Dora Annie photographed in Halifax, Canada.