The House On the Hill

Chapter 4: Manor Search

                                                                            Chapter 4

                                                   Clitheroe, England  September 4, 1887

Well, we arrived in Clitheroe and the first thought that came to mind was: "What have I gotten myself into?"

Well, to be honest, it was not all that bad. It was a small town with a population of about 100, 75% literate, which meant less crowds and more room. The train station was a few blocks away from the town square, which had mostly cobblestone roads and small shops with reasonable prices. Down the street from that, there was the "Whistling Pot Inn", whom had no open positions, along with a restaurant, a pub, and a law office. A town announcement board advertised a market in the square on Saturdays but other than that, nothing special. That didn't stop Georgie from getting excited.

"Sure it looks small and quiet but, I bet this place really gets busy during tourist season. Also, I heard all the richer residents live in the country."

It was true that a dirt road leading away from the town looked like it went on for a while and I could see a house in the distance but, that hardly meant anything.

"Well, lets get our names out there shall we?" said Georgie, full of hope.

After about three big manors, I was beginning to loose hope.

"Come on!" pleaded Georgie. "Just one more house?"

"Fine." I agreed. The worst that could happen is that we can get declined again right?

Georgie knocked on the door and put a very bright smile on her face.

A tight lipped maid answered. "Good afternoon."

"Yes it is isn't it?" Georgie brightly replied back. "My name is Georgina Hull and this is my friend Adelina Kent. We are maids looking for work. May we please speak to your employer?"

The maid gave us a quizzical look. I do admit that Georgie had a smile that was verging on creepy and I probably did not look all that excited so, I was not at all surprised when we received a throughly rehearsed apology for no available positions. But, Georgie would have none of that.

"Please," she begged. "May I just have one minute? I really, really need to talk to him and I am sure he would be ever so thankful for more hands. I mean, we are low maintenance, do not need much pay, and will do whatever we are told. Please, may I just see him?"

"I am very sor-"

"Hang on!" came a deep voice from inside the house. "Let 'em in."

"But, sir," stammered the maid "We already have everyone we need and we just hired someone last wee-"

"Excuse me Eliza?" said the voice whom I assumed was the owner of the mansion. "Are you questioning my authority?"

"No sir." came the shameful response.

"Well then," he instructed. "Let the poor ladies in so we can see what services we are being offered."

"Yes sir." said the maid and I swear she shot us an evil look as we stepped into the magnificent house. It was beautiful, with the walls covered in expensive-looking flowered wall paper and furniture all around either covered in silk or decorated with gold piping that created an almost royal effect on the estate. The owner looked right at home in a fancy white dress shirt tucked into coal-black trousers and a red bow-tie that matched the color of his drapes quite well. He seemed to be around 45 or 50 with wrinkles around his eyes and mouth that showed he laughed a lot and a twinkle in his eye that reminded me of the Saint Nicholas we used to set out milk for as children around Christmas time.

"I apologize my ladies," he said in a warm tone. "I am Sir John Taylor and own this beautiful estate. As you can see it is quite large so there is always room for more help. But, I am a little hard of hearing, so could you run your names by me again."

"Or course sir!" exclaimed Georgie and she preceded with our names and job situation, making sure to include our job history although, she made the work sound more impressive then it really is.

"Ah Burnley," exclaimed Sir Taylor. "It looks absolutely beautiful this time of year. Anyway, I will have to ruffle through some finical papers but, I think I will be able to squeeze you both in."

An enormous wave of relief washed over me and I could tell the same happened to Georgie by the way her shoulders and back relaxed in the slightest. Now I had a source of income, all I needed to do was find a place to stay and somewhere to put my Oxford fund.

"Now, your job will be fairly similar to your one in Burnley." explained Sir Taylor. "You will clean and tend to guests when there are some but for now, I am the only guest. Also, you will both have rooms the Eliza will now show you. You can stay in those for the night before I assign you both permanent ones. I shall see you in the morning where we will discuss the business side of things. Now, Eliza, please put these two on those two spare rooms on the second floor."

"Of course sir." responded Eliza and she proceeded to show us up the grand marble stair case to the rooms where we will stay the night. We stopped outside two doors at the end of a long hallway on the second floor and Eliza turned around, bid us goodnight, and walked upstairs to the fourth floor where the other maids had rooms.

"Can you believe it?"Georgie exclaimed as soon as Eliza had left us alone in the hallway. "Sir Taylor is so kind! I think we will have fun working here."

"Well," I responded. "He is no Bess, but we just have to take what we get." Georgie gave me a playful shove and we exchanged goodnights between each other before retiring to our rooms after a busy day.

"I might not regret this move after all." I thought to myself. Little did I know what fate had in mind.