Mary looked uncomfortably along the tableat the line of domestic servants, convinced that she had made a catastrophicmistake in accepting the third housemaid’s job. If only I had just gonehome this morning, Mary thought. If only I hadn’t been so bloodystupid and gone off exploring Blackfriars while Edie had had her interview.
Mr Risler, a lank man with black greasyhair, walked behind the line of servants opposite Mary, forking out extrapieces of ham, making polite conversation as he went. ‘Some of my meat,ladies?’ he asked with a smirk when he reached Mary and Joan.
Joan shook her head vehemently. ‘Nothank you, Mr Risler.’
Without looking up, Mary could feel thepenetrating stare of the butler.
‘And you, Miss?’
Mary met his eyes. ‘No thank you, Mr Risler.’
Mr Risler licked his lips. ‘Pity,’he said, walking behind Mary to begin the line of servants on her side of thetable. ‘Nice to see a new addition to the virgins’ wing,’ hemuttered, barely audibly, before moving on to Clara and Eliza.
Mary shot a glance at Joan, who quicklylowered her eyes. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means he’s a bit of a letch andsomeone to keep at arm’s length,’ Joan mumbled.
For the duration of breakfast, Mary triedin vain to talk with anyone other than Joan, the curt and rude scullery maidopposite her. However, distinct hierarchical lines sliced the table intoconversation pockets, most of which excluded Mary. She was actuallyrelieved when breakfast was formally declared over.
‘Now what?’ Mary asked Clara, as theyproceeded from the servants’ hall in the order at which they had been seated.
‘Female servants’ quarters followed by themale servants’ quarters.’
‘What about them?’
‘We make the beds, replenish the candles,dust then sweep the floors.’
Mary swallowed back her exasperation andsilently followed Clara up the ninety-six stairs to the female servants’rooms. The daily harsh reality of the role of the third housemaid atBlackfriars was slowly becoming clear to her. She recalled, withsufficient embarrassment to flush her cheeks, her behaviour in the library withEdward and the informality with which she had addressed Lady Rothborne. She was very fortunate that Lady Rothborne had humoured her and evenoffered her a job.
At the top of the stairs, Clara opened thefirst door to reveal a small cupboard stocked with a host of cleaning items,bedding and candles. Reaching inside, she pulled out two soft-headed,hair brooms and passed one to Mary. ‘It’s your duty to dust and sweep andto clean and stock the fire grate. It’s my job to do the bed linen andcandles. You start in our room, I’ll start in Eliza and Sarah’s.’
Mary pushed the door shut and stared ather bed, sorely tempted to bury herself under the blankets and forget that shehad ever agreed to this awful job. She wandered over to the window andlooked outside, barely able to take in the brightness of the morning. Ithad felt like days since the sun had bothered to rise, having capitulated tothe gloomy winds and heavy snow that had poured across the channel for days onend. The concrete-grey clouds had vanished, leaving a beautiful turquoisesky. Even the beading of snow which ran along the window pane was now beginningto thaw. From the corner of her eye, something moved. Mary shiftedher focus and saw an elegant female form in a crimson dress walking through therose gardens. It only took a split-second for Mary to identify her asLady Philadelphia. From her meandering and unhurried gait, she guessedthat she was taking some gentle exercise and fresh air. Mary stared ather, transfixed, feeling as incongruous as a caged animal at London Zoo. Idon’t belong here, she lamented. At least not like this, sweepingand cleaning; I belong down there, in a beautiful silk dress, enjoying a walkin the winter sunshine.
Behind her, the door creaked open. It was Clara. ‘Are you nearly done here?’
The reality of her new life suddenlyreturned to Mary: she was nothing more than a housemaid. A thirdhousemaid at that. The bottom of the pile. ‘Not quite. Sorry.’ Mary could tell that Clara was annoyed.
‘It’s okay, I’ll give you a hand. Iremember my first day here, I think I was next to useless,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’ll try and be as patient as Eliza was to me. Then in two years’ time,you can show the new third housemaid the ropes. Just remember how you’refeeling today.’
Mary was sure that, for as long as shelived, she wouldn’t forget today. The very idea of doing this job, dayin, day out for another two years horrified her. There had to be analternative, she thought.
Working together, it took the girls tenminutes to finish their room before moving on to the other six femalebedrooms. Once completed, it was time to move onto the male servants’quarters. Mary was intrigued to learn the location of their rooms and tocatch a glimpse of her cousin’s bedroom. Unexpectedly, she was led backdown the ninety-six steps, along the gloomy corridor to another door.
‘Don’t ask me how it is, but there areninety-eight steps up to the boys’ rooms,’ Clara said with a littlelaugh. ‘And I’ve triple-checked.’
At the top, an exhausted Mary realisedthat they were, in effect, on the same corridor as the female servants’quarters; the hallway having been permanently bricked up to segregate thesexes, which seemed entirely over the top. ‘God, if they knocked thatthing down,’ Mary said, indicating the brick divide, ‘we’d have less clamberingup and down stairs to do.’
Clara laughed. ‘We’d be horsewhippedif we were found within a mile of the boys’ rooms when they’re there.’
Banging her fist on the wall, Mary said,‘But we are within a mile—our room is just the other side of here! Let meguess, it’s not the Blackfriars’ way?’
‘Come on, stop chatting, let’s geton. It’s basically the same as our rooms’, dust, sweep—’
Mary interjected, ‘Clean the grates, makeup the fires, check the candles.’
Clara grinned. ‘You’ve got it.’
Just as Mary was about to enter the firstroom, a thought entered her head. ‘Which room is my cousin Edward’s?’
‘That one,’ Clara said, pointing to thethird room along the corridor. ‘Usually the most untidy one.’
‘Must run in the family.’ Marysmiled and began to rush through the cleaning of the first bedroom so that shecould
