six little sisters has helped me there.’
‘But what about your master – doesn’t he want to travel out of London as well?’
‘He has to stay at his mercers’ company to run the business,’ she said. ‘Besides, only two travelcertificates can be obtained, and they are fearfully difficult to get because they have to be signed by the Lord Mayor himself. No other signatures are being accepted!’ She danced a few steps around the floor. ‘Just think, it will take four days to travel there and we have to stay at inns along the road, where I shall meet all sorts of young gallants!’
I laughed at her, for she was twirling around and lifting her petticoats as if she was ribbon-dancing around the maypole at home. ‘But what about your sweetheart?’
She pulled a face. ‘He’s nothing but a niggardly hog-grubber,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen him walking out with one of the girls from the coffee shop.’
I was quiet for a moment. ‘I shall miss you,’ I said. ‘But when do you think your mistress will be well enough to travel?’
‘Next week, maybe. Though she was monstrous sick in the night and I had to go into her three times.’
‘But is the babe well?’
‘Aye. Healthy and hungry.’
Just then, a very well-rounded woman in a maroon gown, and a young girl in a black servant’s dress, came through the dairy, both carrying shopping baskets. The fat woman frowned slightly at Abby, who just gave a beaming smile in return.
‘All the house are very jealous that I’m going to Dorchester!’ Abby whispered, and then laughed aloud. ‘Lord, but did you see the size of Cook? That gown sits on her as tight as the skin on a plum.’ She slipped towards the back doorway of the dairy. ‘Come on – almost everyone’s out now, and the mistress is asleep. Come in and I’ll show you all the furnishings!’
The house was very large, the largest and grandest I’d ever been in. Beyond the dairy was a still room, with bunches of herbs drying and blossoms being prepared for pot-pourri and flower water, and beyond that a laundry, with ropes on which aired white linen smocks and damask bed-sheets. There was a kitchen and dining room on the next floor, but we did not go into these because Abby said the housekeeper was around. We tiptoed up to the next floor and Abby opened the door to the drawing room, showing walls hung with black and silver striped silk, delicate carved furniture and small settles bearing purple velvet cushions shot with silver. There were many portraits, too, although Abby said she didn’t know who they were, and thick patterned rugs covered the floor.
The next room was even more sumptuous, with diamond-paned windows which overlooked the flowered courtyard below and a vast carved wood fireplace which reached the ceiling. This room had silver-gilt chairs and nests of drawers patterned in flowers, with Chinese vases and silver candlesticks atop, and was all very fine, so that I could not but gasp at the beauty of it all. ‘I never thought furnishings of a house could be so elegant,’ I said to Abby, for indeed all the houses I’d been into – big and small – had been in the country and of rustic style.
‘Oh, ’tis all for show!’ she said. ‘They never come into these rooms. But you should see the bedrooms! The mistress’s room has Venetian mirrors all over, and she sleeps in a four-poster with gold hangings that are said to have come from Persia.’
Once she’d told me this, I longed to go upstairs andsee these things, but Abby said she didn’t dare take me. She did say, though, that if I went up the servants’ stairs to her room, then she would go to the nursery and bring the babe to see me.
To tell the truth I was not that bothered about the babe, having seen more than enough of my little brothers and sisters as infants, but Abby said it was a pretty one and seemed so eager to show it off that we went to her room and I waited while she fetched it.
It was a pretty babe, about
‘But what about your master – doesn’t he want to travel out of London as well?’
‘He has to stay at his mercers’ company to run the business,’ she said. ‘Besides, only two travelcertificates can be obtained, and they are fearfully difficult to get because they have to be signed by the Lord Mayor himself. No other signatures are being accepted!’ She danced a few steps around the floor. ‘Just think, it will take four days to travel there and we have to stay at inns along the road, where I shall meet all sorts of young gallants!’
I laughed at her, for she was twirling around and lifting her petticoats as if she was ribbon-dancing around the maypole at home. ‘But what about your sweetheart?’
She pulled a face. ‘He’s nothing but a niggardly hog-grubber,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen him walking out with one of the girls from the coffee shop.’
I was quiet for a moment. ‘I shall miss you,’ I said. ‘But when do you think your mistress will be well enough to travel?’
‘Next week, maybe. Though she was monstrous sick in the night and I had to go into her three times.’
‘But is the babe well?’
‘Aye. Healthy and hungry.’
Just then, a very well-rounded woman in a maroon gown, and a young girl in a black servant’s dress, came through the dairy, both carrying shopping baskets. The fat woman frowned slightly at Abby, who just gave a beaming smile in return.
‘All the house are very jealous that I’m going to Dorchester!’ Abby whispered, and then laughed aloud. ‘Lord, but did you see the size of Cook? That gown sits on her as tight as the skin on a plum.’ She slipped towards the back doorway of the dairy. ‘Come on – almost everyone’s out now, and the mistress is asleep. Come in and I’ll show you all the furnishings!’
The house was very large, the largest and grandest I’d ever been in. Beyond the dairy was a still room, with bunches of herbs drying and blossoms being prepared for pot-pourri and flower water, and beyond that a laundry, with ropes on which aired white linen smocks and damask bed-sheets. There was a kitchen and dining room on the next floor, but we did not go into these because Abby said the housekeeper was around. We tiptoed up to the next floor and Abby opened the door to the drawing room, showing walls hung with black and silver striped silk, delicate carved furniture and small settles bearing purple velvet cushions shot with silver. There were many portraits, too, although Abby said she didn’t know who they were, and thick patterned rugs covered the floor.
The next room was even more sumptuous, with diamond-paned windows which overlooked the flowered courtyard below and a vast carved wood fireplace which reached the ceiling. This room had silver-gilt chairs and nests of drawers patterned in flowers, with Chinese vases and silver candlesticks atop, and was all very fine, so that I could not but gasp at the beauty of it all. ‘I never thought furnishings of a house could be so elegant,’ I said to Abby, for indeed all the houses I’d been into – big and small – had been in the country and of rustic style.
‘Oh, ’tis all for show!’ she said. ‘They never come into these rooms. But you should see the bedrooms! The mistress’s room has Venetian mirrors all over, and she sleeps in a four-poster with gold hangings that are said to have come from Persia.’
Once she’d told me this, I longed to go upstairs andsee these things, but Abby said she didn’t dare take me. She did say, though, that if I went up the servants’ stairs to her room, then she would go to the nursery and bring the babe to see me.
To tell the truth I was not that bothered about the babe, having seen more than enough of my little brothers and sisters as infants, but Abby said it was a pretty one and seemed so eager to show it off that we went to her room and I waited while she fetched it.
It was a pretty babe, about
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