than in a prison cell. That was the worst thing, I think. You can understand it when youngsters are punished for cheek or for lying, but a thing like that can’t really be helped and putting them in the wardrobe room wasn’t the way to cure it. It’d make you even more nervous, something like that.
Miss Julia and the mistress had a blazing row about it. They didn’t even bother to keep their voices down: they stood in the nursery with the door wide open and yelled at each other foreveryone to hear. It was after Miss Julia came to stay. Charlotte was only about two at the time and the mistress was trying to get her to use the chamber pot but she couldn’t get the hang of it at all and she’d dirtied her underdrawers. The mistress was letting rip, shouting at her, and Julia came in and said it wasn’t the wean’s fault. Then the mistress told her to mind her own business and that she would rear her children the way she saw fit. Miss Julia said if she thought that was the way to rear them, shouting and roaring at them for making one little mistake, then God help them, and the mistress said that when Miss Julia had a child of her own she might be allowed to have an opinion on the matter but until then she could just keep her nose right out of it. Miss Julia said she was allowed to have an opinion about the way her own niece was treated, and the mistress said she could go write her opinions on a placard and parade up and down the street and see if that would get her anywhere, but that
she
wouldn’t be taking any notice of her. Then Miss Julia said it wasn’t right and the mistress said if she didn’t like the way she ran her household she could go find herself some other house that would take her in rent-free, but that while she was there she could keep her mouth shut. And Miss Julia walked out and slammed the door, and that was that.
Miss Julia and the mistress were nothing alike; it was hard to believe they were sisters at all. Miss Julia had a way with the children: they would do anything for her. She spent hours with them painting and drawing, making up stories. I think it annoyed the mistress that her sister had so much patience. You’d have thought the way she went on that Miss Julia was doing it to annoy her. If the mistress put one of the children in the wardrobe room, Miss Julia crept up and spoke to them through the door. A couple of times, she must have got her hands on the key, slipped in with a glass of milk and a slice of bread. She found ways around the mistress’s harshness, but after that row she did it carefully, without letting anyone know.
• • •
Hand me my stick, Anna, will you? Oh, my bones! I stand up and the whole house creaks. It’s not easy getting your bearings. My bedroom now is on the third floor, not far, I think, from where my old room used to be. And we have a small sitting room of our own up there, with a TV in it, but I’m not sure what that room would have been. I think it must have been part of the governess’s old room. There used to be two spiral staircases in the house, in two of the old turrets: one that went straight from outside the door of the governess’s room beside mine down into the nursery on the floor below, and from there on down to the schoolroom on the ground floor. There was one on the north side, too, outside Madge’s room, that led down into the hall outside Miss Julia’s room and then on down again to the dining room. We weren’t supposed to use them—we were meant to use the passage stairs—but they were handy, and many’s the time I took the chance of getting caught to save my legs the longer walk. They’re not there anymore: they put in lift shafts for us that can’t make it up and down the main stairs.
The best view of the town was from the older boys’ rooms on the north side of the house, so I never minded being sent in there to air the beds when the boys were away at school. I used to stand at the windows and watch the tram
Miss Julia and the mistress had a blazing row about it. They didn’t even bother to keep their voices down: they stood in the nursery with the door wide open and yelled at each other foreveryone to hear. It was after Miss Julia came to stay. Charlotte was only about two at the time and the mistress was trying to get her to use the chamber pot but she couldn’t get the hang of it at all and she’d dirtied her underdrawers. The mistress was letting rip, shouting at her, and Julia came in and said it wasn’t the wean’s fault. Then the mistress told her to mind her own business and that she would rear her children the way she saw fit. Miss Julia said if she thought that was the way to rear them, shouting and roaring at them for making one little mistake, then God help them, and the mistress said that when Miss Julia had a child of her own she might be allowed to have an opinion on the matter but until then she could just keep her nose right out of it. Miss Julia said she was allowed to have an opinion about the way her own niece was treated, and the mistress said she could go write her opinions on a placard and parade up and down the street and see if that would get her anywhere, but that
she
wouldn’t be taking any notice of her. Then Miss Julia said it wasn’t right and the mistress said if she didn’t like the way she ran her household she could go find herself some other house that would take her in rent-free, but that while she was there she could keep her mouth shut. And Miss Julia walked out and slammed the door, and that was that.
Miss Julia and the mistress were nothing alike; it was hard to believe they were sisters at all. Miss Julia had a way with the children: they would do anything for her. She spent hours with them painting and drawing, making up stories. I think it annoyed the mistress that her sister had so much patience. You’d have thought the way she went on that Miss Julia was doing it to annoy her. If the mistress put one of the children in the wardrobe room, Miss Julia crept up and spoke to them through the door. A couple of times, she must have got her hands on the key, slipped in with a glass of milk and a slice of bread. She found ways around the mistress’s harshness, but after that row she did it carefully, without letting anyone know.
• • •
Hand me my stick, Anna, will you? Oh, my bones! I stand up and the whole house creaks. It’s not easy getting your bearings. My bedroom now is on the third floor, not far, I think, from where my old room used to be. And we have a small sitting room of our own up there, with a TV in it, but I’m not sure what that room would have been. I think it must have been part of the governess’s old room. There used to be two spiral staircases in the house, in two of the old turrets: one that went straight from outside the door of the governess’s room beside mine down into the nursery on the floor below, and from there on down to the schoolroom on the ground floor. There was one on the north side, too, outside Madge’s room, that led down into the hall outside Miss Julia’s room and then on down again to the dining room. We weren’t supposed to use them—we were meant to use the passage stairs—but they were handy, and many’s the time I took the chance of getting caught to save my legs the longer walk. They’re not there anymore: they put in lift shafts for us that can’t make it up and down the main stairs.
The best view of the town was from the older boys’ rooms on the north side of the house, so I never minded being sent in there to air the beds when the boys were away at school. I used to stand at the windows and watch the tram
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