Rachel's Story

Chapter 5

  

CHAPTER 5

Minutes after she had put up her framed sampler over her bedstead, a knock on her door warned her about the entry of the maid into her room, and she bade the girl to enter. With a bashful smile at the new member of the household, the maid, who said that her name was Rosie, put down a jug of hot water on the little basin in the corner and started straightening the bed-clothes. She was slight of figure and about Rachel’s own height, wore big spectacles (which seemed an odd thing for a maid to possess), and had tightly bound dark hair under a modest cap. She had a smile on her face at all times and Rachel liked her at first glance, though she seemed to be rather quiet. After finishing her chores with an efficient air she inquired demurely, “Would that be all Miss, or would you be requiring anything else?”

“No thank you, Rosie. You have done a very good job, and as it is I have received more pampering than is good for me, if my mother is to be believed,” said Rachel with a big grin. Rosie looked up at her with interest in her eyes and a reciprocating smile glinting in their depths.

Emboldened, Rachel pressed on.“I have always made my own bed till now; Mama drilled it into us children from the age of seven.”

“It is fine Miss, and this is after all my job. I am happy to have pleased you.” With a sedate curtsey, Rosie backed out of the room and Rachel hurried through her toilet, making her way to the kitchen. There she found the kindly Mrs. Talcott directing the other maid Sally, who was balancing a steaming bowl of porridge and a dish of buttered crumpets on two silver trays on the way to the breakfast room. Mrs. Talcott spared a smile for Rachel amid her managerial duties, and drew her towards a kitchen chair after Sally had sailed forth under her burden.

“Come in my dear. Sorry for all that, but our recent lack of a footman has suddenly put tasks like waiting on the family on the shoulders of these girls, and they need a firm guiding hand to ensure an absence of accidents.” She beamed amiably, and brandished a skillet. “What would you like to eat on your first morning here? And anyway, what is your name? I could only catch the ‘Miss Warren’ rigmarole, and I really like knowing people’s given names since they are so much friendlier.”

“My name is Rachel Mrs. Talcott, and I would really prefer to be known by that name since that’s who I have been all my life. And I would love to take you up on your offer – something smells absolutely delicious and I did not have much to eat last night. I will have whatever you can provide at the earliest!”

Chuckling lightly, Mrs. Talcott turned around to the cooking range and whipped up a massive omelette for the hungry girl behind her. When Rachel was finishing her food, Mrs. Hutchens bustled into the room with a harassed air. Seeing the new governess, she addressed her with a start of surprise.

“Fancy finding you here, Miss Warren! I was just about to send Rosie off to your room. The mistress has sent word that you are to meet her in the parlour in ten minutes’ time, after which you can meet the children and start your teaching.”

Rachel nodded and gulped down the rest of her food, her appetite diminishing at an alarming rate with every passing minute.

                                                             Xxxxx

A polished maple door led into the handsomely fitted parlour, but Rachel was too nervous to notice anything much about the room other than the woman occupying it. Mrs. Norma Herringford was a petite ash-blonde woman, whose stormy grey eyes seemed to be forever appraising Rachel from behind their sweeping lashes. She may not be strictly beautiful, but there was a strange attractiveness in the stillness of her limbs, and nobility in the elegance of her precise voice. She made Rachel feel instinctively uneasy. Though their opening conversation about Rachel’s journey and educational prowess was amiable enough, the latter felt that the older woman was judging her already and was finding her sadly deficient.