The Windsor Girl (8 page)

‘Your father ate in here this morning and if it’s good enough for him, Richard, it’s good enough for you’.

‘In my opinion it’s a waste of a good dining room.  Where’s the damned maid?’

‘Give the girl a chance.  You have only
just
rung for her and she
does
have to climb the stairs to get here’.

As
Doris came in, Richard said, without looking up from his newspaper, ‘what delightful morsels do we have today, Dora?’

Doris
was aware of Master Richard’s mistake, but would not dream of correcting him.

Louise sighed, ‘her name is
Doris, dear’.

‘
Doris?  Dora?  What difference does it make?’

‘I expect it makes a difference to
Doris’, she said, smiling apologetically at the maid.

Richard stood up, turned his attention to the maid, bent low in an exaggerated bow, and said, ‘I do beg your pardon
Doris.  Please forgive me’.

Doris
flushed with embarrassment, ‘it’s all right Sir,
really
.  Would you like a full breakfast?  There’s kidney on today’.

‘Then bring me everything on the menu, my
dear Doris’.

As she went he turned, once more, to his mother.  ‘Satisfied now Mother?’

‘Richard, must you be so rude?  I know she is only a servant but servants have feelings too.  I do declare it would seem I have only the one offspring who causes me no aggravation.  It’s a pity that James is not due home for a visit.  It would be nice to have some respect from my children’.

‘Oh dear, has
Victoria been a bitch again?’

Seeing the sadness, on his mother’s face, Richard quickly relented.  ‘I’m sorry Mother.  I can be a beast sometimes I know.  Poor Vicky can’t help the way she is.  If I were in her position I would be impossible to live with.  And I do understand how concerned you are for her.  I should do more to help’.

‘Oh Richard.  If only someone could do something to help her.  I’m sure she doesn’t mean to be so irritable but it does distress me so’.

‘Well, I have some news that will make you feel better’. 
He gave his mother a disarming smile, ‘can you guess who I have invited for tea on Sunday?’

Louise returned her son’s smile and thought how handsome he looked when he was being pleasant.  ‘It’s obviously a young lady.  Are you going to tell me who?’

‘Elizabeth Goodyear’.  He waited for his mothers, delighted, response.

‘Goodyear?  Should I know the name?’  Then her eyes lit up, ‘not
the
Elizabeth Goodyear?’

‘Yes Mother. The Family is said to be the richest in
Yorkshire.  They own almost everything for miles around.  I have been seeing Elizabeth for several weeks now.  I thought you might like to meet her?’

‘Oh Darling, how absolutely delightful.  You know darling, you sometimes worry me with your wild ways.  Does this mean that you are about to settle down?’

‘I could do worse, I suppose’.

Louise had suddenly regained her feeling of well being. 
She gave Richard a hug, ‘you have made me feel so much better.  Now I must see Miss Maud and discuss what we should offer Miss Goodyear, for tea, on Sunday’. 

She was humming as she left the breakfast room and thought,
wouldn’t it be absolutely divine if both, Richard and James were to settle down.  Of course they were both still young but if Richard should become betrothed to Miss Goodyear, and James, to the delightful Lucy Musgrove, how wonderful life would be
’.

Richard smiled to himself and thought how little it took to make his mother happy.  He immediately felt a pang of guilt.  He knew he often made matters worse with his drinking and wild friends, but he was still young and while he had no real ties to anyone in particular, he felt he should enjoy life while he still could.  He vowed to try harder in future then turned his attention to the morning paper.

Chapter Ten

Whilst Richard was catching up on the ‘City News’, Doris was back in the kitchen setting up the hot tray.  She was rushing around, anxious to please the ‘arrogant’ Master Richard.  She reached for the pan of Kidneys, which was resting on the hob.  As her hand gripped the handle she screamed out in pain.

Cook was at her side at once, ‘
dear me Doris, what on earth have you done?’ she cried.

The maid, her faced screwed up in agony, was pressing her hand between her knees as if trying to squeeze out the terrible pain.  Missus Blunt took
Doris’s hand, gently in hers, and examined it.  She was dismayed to see that almost the whole of the palm was badly burned and was already forming blisters.

By this time
Doris was in a flood of tears.  Cook sat her down and wrapped the wound in a clean cloth.

‘Put some butter on it Missus blunt.  That’s what my Mam always does’, suggested Molly.

‘I don’t believe it does any good Molly.  She will have to have it seen to properly.   In the meantime, Master Richard will be expecting his breakfast.  Someone else will have to take it upstairs and serve it to him’.

‘I’ll take it up, Missus Blunt’, said Violet.  She liked going into the house and hoped, eventually, to work upstairs.

Cook thought for a minute.  ‘That won’t do Violet.  The Mistress is very particular about uniforms being worn when serving food to members of the family.  Neither you, nor Molly, will fit into Doris’s dress, and there isn’t time to search out Miss Maud to get out a new one’.

‘Well someone will have to go’, said Violet, feeling disappointed and risking a ‘telling off’ for being impudent.

Missus Blunt looked across at the young scullery maids.

‘Oh you can't Missus Blunt’, said Molly, hardly believing what Cook had in mind, ‘not a scullery maid?’

‘Who said I can't?’

Kate was cleaning out the drains, which were in fact water gullies, cut out in the flagged floor to drain the floor of water. 
She would be sure to smell of carbolic soap.

Her eyes rested on Ellie. 
The girl was, no longer, painfully thin, but now had a certain smoothness to her slim figure, and at the moment looked fresh and clean.  Cook thought Ellie could do it.  She was, in fact, more elegant than some of the girls that Master Richard was often seen with.  She called Ellie over to her and told her she was to serve the young Master his breakfast.

‘But Missus Blunt, I can’t go up looking like this’, indicating her soiled skirt.

‘I know all about that dear.  We are about to take off Doris’s uniform and, with a bit of luck, it should fit you a treat’.

Everyone helped in the delicate operation.  Poor
Doris cried out, every so often, as they eased her out of her long black dress.

When Ellie was dressed, she was transformed.  The long dress was a little large on the waist but the white lace apron, tied at the back with a bow, took care of the problem.  The lace cap sat upon her glossy hair almost like a ‘tiara’.

Missus Blunt, with some misgivings, said thoughtfully, ‘I do hope I’m doing the right thing’.  But no sooner had she uttered the works, than she was handing Ellie the hot tray.

‘Do be sure to put this on the sideboard and not on the table.  Then stand by the sideboard until Master Richard has made his choice of food.  Take each dish to the table and, with the utensils provided, place the food carefully on the plate.  Don’t, under any circumstances, take the plate to the dishes.  Ask if he would like you to pour out his tea then stay there in the room until you are dismissed.  And don’t forget
dear; speak only when you are spoken to’.  She took a deep breath, and then asked, ‘have you got all that Ellie?’

She was surprised when Ellie calmly replied, ‘that all seems quite simple Missus Blunt’.  With a parting smile, at Cook, she left the kitchen.

‘Well, I never!’ said Cook.

From the minute Ellie set eyes on Richard she was on her guard.  He did not speak as she entered and seemed not to notice her presence.  She, silently, did as Cook had instructed and stood quietly to one side of the sideboard.

She noted his dark, good looks and his immaculate dress, his deep purple waistcoat, with fancy guilt buttons.

To Ellie he looked exactly as she had thought he would from the comments of the kitchen staff.  She could well imagine him to be a ‘man with the ladies’ as well as a drinking man intent on enjoying the ‘good life’.

Without looking up, Richard said, ‘you took your time.  I sometimes wonder if you servants are worth your keep’.

‘I believe we are sir’. 

The words were out, before she could stop them but the words
had
been spoken and Ellie held her head high.  Richard, unused to such precise pronunciation, from a servant, looked up for the first time.  His eyebrows rose at the sight of this ‘vision’ before him.

‘You’re not
Doris!’ he said.

‘No sir, I’m
not
Doris’.

Richard bristled, but went on, ‘well girl, what do I call
you
?’ 

Because this man annoyed her so much, by his arrogance, Ellie spoke with little thought of the consequences.

‘My name is Ellen Windsor but I am usually referred to as Ellie. That is - by my friends’.

‘My! My!  You’re quite a ‘madam’, aren’t you?  As you have given me a choice, I will call you ‘girl’. 
Is that alright by you?’

‘Yes Sir, if that is your wish’.

Ellie stood back as Richard lifted the lid of each of the containers.  ‘You may serve me everything, except the revolting kidneys’. 

He took his seat at the table and picked up his paper once more.

Ellie took each dish, in turn, and served the young Master with; bacon, eggs, tomatoes, black pudding and chunks of bread, which had been fried in the bacon fat.  Remembering her orders, she spoke once more, ‘would you like me to pour tea sir?’

‘No girl.  I will pour for myself’.

It did not go unnoticed that Ellie did not bend her knee in a curtsey, as was the usual practice, but Richard did not comment on it.   He smiled to himself and thought what a pleasant change it was, to have someone serve him who obviously did not wish to impress him.  However, Richard found himself impressed, even by her disrespect.  He knew for certain, that if she remained a maid, for the rest her life, she would never be ‘servile’.

Richard studied her as she stood by the sideboard, not looking at him but somewhere above his head. 
The girl had ‘spunk’
he thought,
and God, what a ‘beauty’ she is
. 

Although her hair was tied into a knot at the nape of her neck, he could see how fair it was, and for a fleeting moment, he could almost feel his fingers running through
its softness, while holding her lovely face to his.  His thoughts were interrupted, abruptly.

‘Will that be all Sir?’ said Ellie, anxious to make her escape.

‘No girl, that will
not
be all’.

And so, Ellie stood by the sideboard for the next hour, whilst Richard took his time over his breakfast, by reading his paper between each mouthful of food.  Ellie noticed, with indignation, that he had an overbearing look of superiority on his face.  She hated him.  Who did he think he was, keeping her standing there, when he had no need of her?’

In all that time Ellie hardly moved her feet, and before long, her toes were beginning to feel numb.  She edged her foot an inch or so.

Richard gave her a warning look, enjoying the game he was playing.  ‘Not going are you girl?’

Ellie said nothing, and Richard went back to his breakfast.

Ellie’s eyes burnt into the back of his neck.  Several times, Richard’s hand went to the spot, upon which, Ellie was focusing her stare.

Suddenly, and inexplicably, he felt exceedingly uncomfortable in the girl’s presence.  Annoyed by this feeling, which was so foreign to him, he turned to her and said, sharply, ‘are you still here girl?’  When she remained silent, he added, ‘you are dismissed’.

Ellie walked slowly to the door, turned around and said, politely, ‘thank you sir’.

She was still ‘seething’ with anger when she reached the kitchen.  Richard, on the other hand, was sitting there wondering why he had done this.  Why on earth had he wanted to antagonise the girl?  He wondered how long she had worked here and why he had not seen her before?  He would have asked his mother, but it would not be seemly to ask about a servant, especially as he had just told her about Elizabeth.

Richard thought now, about
Elizabeth.  She was an attractive young lady, well spoken, and knew how to behave when confronted with parents and people of authority.
Unlike little Miss Windsor
, he surmised, t
he maid would speak her mind when, and to whom, she wanted, albeit in a polite way.
  Nevertheless, he reluctantly admitted, he liked the girl.

Richard shook his head to clear the picture of Ellie from his mind.  He was bringing
Elizabeth to tea on Sunday and it was best that he concentrated on
her
.

Try as he would, he failed, miserably, to focus his thoughts on the elegant
Elizabeth.  He did, however, think how nice it would be to see Ellie smile. He was sure that it would be a sight to behold.