Chambers had closed the door behind her and was about to make her way back to the kitchen area when she became aware of raised voices. Curious, she cautiously retraced her steps. The words were plainly audible through the door.
So intrigued was she that she was taken completely off guard by the door being thrown open, giving her no chance to excuse her being found hovering there. But instead of her finding herself challenged, Mrs Lowe passed right by her in full flight, weeping and stumbling in her haste to leave the dining room.
By the time Doctor Lowe followed, Chambers was back in the kitchen, having sprinted along the passage and down the short flight of stairs with amazing agility for one so fleshy.
Mrs Jenkins was asking Florrie why she was so out of breath as Ellie came into the kitchen with brush and pan to wash her hands and face clean of ash and coal dust before tackling cleaner jobs. Glancing across at Florrie, she saw she was indeed out of breath, chubby cheeks flushed.
‘You orright?’ she enquired, concerned. Florrie ignored her. Thinking she hadn’t heard, Ellie repeated the question.
She was taken by surprise as Florrie turned on her. ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you!’ she flared. ‘I know what you’re up to. No wonder you don’t mind doing grates, especially the one in the master’s study. Hoping to catch him so you can wheedle round him to take my job away from me.’
‘What all this?’ cried Mrs Jenkins, but she was ignored.
‘I’m not trying to take your job away from you,’ Ellie hissed.
‘You are. I just heard him telling Mrs Lowe he plans to give you my job. He wouldn’t say it unless you put ideas into his head. It’s really unfair. It’s rotten of you trying to put me out of a job so you can have it for yourself.’
‘I’ve done no such thing!’ Ellie told her. ‘It’s as much a surprise to me as it is to you.’
‘It’s not fair! I’ve been parlourmaid for months and no one’s ever complained. Then you come along and in a few weeks you’re being offered my job.’
‘No one’s offered me anything,’ Ellie said. ‘And I don’t suppose they will. You got the wrong end of the stick.’
‘I know what I heard!’ Florrie continued to rail. ‘There’s only one person could have put the idea into the master’s head. I think it’s sneaky and underhanded.’
‘Surely this wasn’t said in front of you, girl?’ cried Mrs Jenkins.
‘It was after Doctor Lowe told me I could go. I heard them arguing and the master saying he was thinking of her taking over from me. Her!’
Florrie’s angry eyes flashed towards Ellie. ‘Then Mrs Lowe came flying out of the dining room crying her eyes out.’
All Ellie could do was stare at her, trying not to show the elation she felt. Something had come of her chat with Doctor Lowe after all, though she’d not expected such quick results, nor that he’d propose her taking over from Florrie and that it would set her employers against each other.
But she felt sorry for Florrie. The girl must feel awful hearing it like that, but it was out of their hands now. Florrie might air her feelings down here, but she knew she couldn’t complain or question her employer’s decision lest he let her go altogether. This was an easy-going household. She might not get another as good.
Ellie’s concern at this moment was hearing that Doctor Lowe’s wife had burst into tears over what he’d put to her. It was obvious Mrs Lowe did not like her and might even guess what she was about. But if the woman did manage to influence her husband against her, it would put paid to hope of taking advantage of his obsession with her likeness to his beloved daughter.
From the moment she had realized the effect she had on him, her dream had been of taking that one’s place in his heart, eventually becoming part of this family, learning to behave and speak nicely, with money enough to become a force to be reckoned with.
She’d woven dreams of being rich, confronting her father and bringing him down with her haughty condemnation of him, him grovelling before her proud bearing, begging her forgiveness. But was it just a childish dream?
Eight
It was no surprise to Ellie to be called into her employer’s study two days later. During this time she’d not seen hair or hide of his wife. She only ever had glimpses now and again anyway, the woman purposely avoiding her.
She could only guess what she must be feeling after what Florrie had reported hearing, but she curbed any sympathy she might have had. Her own life was more important.
Not that life had been sweet these two days. Florrie wasn’t speaking to her, Mrs Jenkins kept giving her looks and her own sister had long since been forbidden to associate with her. As to the kitchen maid, Rose, a timid little thing who couldn’t say boo to a goose, the only words she ever seemed to utter were yes and no in a squeaky little voice; there was no alliance there.
She missed Dora dreadfully. Virtually ostracized, Dora would have been a life-saver, and Ellie found her dislike of Mrs Lowe for keeping the girl from her growing by the minute.
‘Well blow the lot of them,’ she told herself. But not Dora, she added hastily in her mind. Once she was established in this household, so long as she could develop the tenuous hold she appeared to have over Doctor Bertram Lowe, she and Dora would leave to a bright and certain future.
Now she entered his study to his summons. He was standing by the
