In her mind’s eye as she hurried back down the stairs she visualized her father grovelling before her in the most degrading situation – crawling in the filthy gutter covered in mud and horse piddle and the slime of other men’s spittle, begging her for mercy as she stood over him in her revenge for all he’d done to her and Mum.
She had no idea how this would come about, but imagining it took away the strange feeling Doctor Lowe’s words had given her.
Five
Ellie’s eyes glowed with excitement as she told Florrie and Mrs Jenkins her news about being promoted to second housemaid under Florrie.
‘Well good for you, dearie,’ came Mrs Jenkins’s strident voice. ‘I just hope you appreciate it.’
‘Yes, of course I do.’
‘But don’t you start putting on airs, miss, or you’ll be back here in the kitchen working for me.’
The way she said that might have sounded ungracious and harsh, but she was genuinely pleased for the girl. All the while Ellie had been here – working like a little Trojan, she had to admit – not once had she ever seen that child smile, and it was about time she did. She’d had a raw deal, losing her mother like that, the brother disappearing and then the father walking out leaving the two young and vulnerable children entirely alone.
Now the brother had come here throwing his weight about. A lout he’d looked for all his flashy clothes, bought, she expected, with winnings from some gambling, but nothing permanent enough to see the girls in decent lodgings. Doctor Lowe had seen him off the premises, thank God, and perhaps, she hoped, the brother would never come back. Whether they’d ever see their father again was a different matter entirely, but the girls had a good home here, so long as they both behaved and worked hard.
She didn’t know the rights of it, but something similar had happened to her when she’d been around young Ellie’s age. She’d had two brothers as well, both younger than her, but they hadn’t been as fortunate as Ellie and Dora in being taken in by a kind gentleman like Doctor Lowe.
Why he’d done it she’d no idea except that his heart must have been in the right place, seriously moved by the youngsters’ plight. True, you can’t save the whole world, Nora Jenkins smiled to herself, but it was good to have one kind soul to help you out when you most needed it.
There’d been no one to show her kindness or take her in when her father had died and her mother had become totally unhinged, admitted to a lunatic asylum. She and her two brothers had been separated, the boys sent to an orphanage and she taken into what was termed a ‘haven’ for girls where she had worked her little heart out. She’d never seen her brothers again.
Even today, at fifty-six, she often wondered where they’d ended up, what they looked like now and if they were still alive even, whether they’d married, raised families, perhaps now had grandchildren whom she would never see. At these times her heart would ache with questions and longing.
She’d never married. She had gone into service – not an exceptionally pretty child, yet she had come to the attention of one of her employer’s sons. Falling pregnant, she’d been dismissed as if it was she who’d enticed him. She hadn’t. She had been as scared as a rabbit each time he came near her, frightening her into secrecy and not admitting it was he who’d put her in the family way.
Of course they took his word against hers. Dismissed, she had looked for shelter. It had been winter. She had slipped on ice, fallen heavily and lost the baby. She was never sure whether she had pined or not, half of her in grief, the other half relieved and the guilt of feeling that relief plaguing her for years.
She’d found other employment, doing exactly what young Ellie had been doing, but, coming under the tuition of an excellent head cook, had learned her trade well. But she had kept away from men all her life, that single experience having been enough to make her never ever want to marry.
‘You should be deeply grateful to Doctor Lowe,’ she told Ellie sternly. ‘You’ve been here only a few weeks and on no recommendation whatsoever. So don’t you dare let him down or you’ll have me to reckon with.’
‘I won’t,’ Ellie said.
‘If you do, and find yourself back here, I won’t be as lenient with you as I’ve been so far. Of course, this leaves me with no help in the kitchen, so at times you might still be needed here until I’m found a replacement for you. Beats me why he’s come to such an odd decision. I just hope you’re grateful, that’s all.’
‘I am grateful,’ Ellie assured her. Mrs Jenkins had no idea why he should offer this unexpected promotion, but she did and she couldn’t help smiling to herself. This was the first step on her ladder and she saw no wrong in using her employer to achieve her aim of improving herself so much that when she finally met her father again, she would be in control. The very thought brought a glow to her cheeks.
Mary Lowe strode about her drawing room, turning every now and again to confront her husband sitting quietly in one of the comfortable armchairs.
He wanted to appear relaxed, but Mary’s
