down at paddock,’ Kizzie added blithely. Kizzie had settled in to this comfortable, cheerful household where she found they were all prepared to accept her with great equanimity. Of course, she herself was only too happy, until her young mistress returned home, to help out anyone who asked her. She didn’t mind scrubbing the scullery floor if Rosie was busy scouring pans, she was heard to say, endearing herself to the scullery-maid. Would Jane Porter like a hand in the dairy or Katie Abbott in the laundry? She’d be glad to ‘peg out’ in the garden beyond the stables or even do a bit of ironing with the flat irons. Four of them were kept on the hot plate at a time and used in order. As one cooled, another could be quickly taken up while the others reheated. There was always a great deal of washing and ironing, for there were seven indoor servants including Kizzie and then the family, Mr and Mrs Armstrong and young Robbie. She had fitted in a treat, she was to tell Miss Charlotte once they were alone, and so had Robbie. She studied her young mistress with a careful eye since she was pretty certain the master would be a real man in the ‘bed’ department but there seemed to be no sign of a baby yet, not even in Miss Charlotte’s eyes where, to an expert like Kizzie, the first indication of pregnancy lay.
Robbie was allowed to dine with them that first night, as a treat, Charlotte told him carefully, since she had got the measure of her new husband by now and he would not take kindly to having a chattering schoolboy at the dinner table each night. Besides which, Robbie was only six years old and would go to bed early. Normally he would eat with Kizzie in his own rooms, a playroom cum study with a bedroom adjoining it.
He seemed to have settled, like Kizzie, into his new home and routine and his conversation never stopped, causing Brooke to frown slightly, the main reason being his passionate devotion to his new pony, which he could ride without being on a leading rein now, he said proudly, and the dogs, particularly Taddy, who slept in his room. His pony, Merry, was a ‘corker’; or so Percy said, and on Saturday, his new chum from school, a boy called Webb was going to ride over and Percy would take them to Round Hill Wood. They were to gallop across the fields and did Charlotte think it would be all right if Webb stayed the night?
‘Webb, that’s a strange name for a boy, darling.’ There it was again, she called her brother darling, an endearment she had never yet bestowed on him! Any endearment, come to that!
‘Oh, that’s his surname, Charlie. He calls me Drummond. Christian names aren’t used at our school.’
‘And do you like it, dearest? Your school, I mean, and don’t slurp your soup, sweetheart. It’s not manners to eat so quickly.’
‘Sorry, Charlie,’ he said, continuing to consume his soup hungrily. Johnson moved silently and deftly about the dining room, helped to serve by Nellie, the head parlour-maid. Following the soup came lamb and roast potatoes, a simple dish to suit the boy, Mrs Groves had obviously thought, and then apple pie with lashings of fresh cream. There was cheese afterwards, a platter of Stilton, Cheshire, Cheddar and Gloucestershire with which Brooke drank port.
‘Did you know there’s a tennis court at the back of the house, Mr Armstrong?’ the boy asked smilingly. Robbie was enjoying himself immensely. He had no competition from his brothers which, as the youngest, had held him back. He had Charlie’s undivided attention and the man, Charlie’s new husband, seemed disinclined to talk at all which suited young Robbie down to the ground. He was, on the whole, perfectly happy here at King’s Meadow though he had not expected to be, especially since Charlie had a husband now, an unknown quantity to Robbie. The servants made a fuss of him which he had never experienced before. Kizzie was there to mother him while Charlie was away and the future looked sunny. And
Robbie was allowed to dine with them that first night, as a treat, Charlotte told him carefully, since she had got the measure of her new husband by now and he would not take kindly to having a chattering schoolboy at the dinner table each night. Besides which, Robbie was only six years old and would go to bed early. Normally he would eat with Kizzie in his own rooms, a playroom cum study with a bedroom adjoining it.
He seemed to have settled, like Kizzie, into his new home and routine and his conversation never stopped, causing Brooke to frown slightly, the main reason being his passionate devotion to his new pony, which he could ride without being on a leading rein now, he said proudly, and the dogs, particularly Taddy, who slept in his room. His pony, Merry, was a ‘corker’; or so Percy said, and on Saturday, his new chum from school, a boy called Webb was going to ride over and Percy would take them to Round Hill Wood. They were to gallop across the fields and did Charlotte think it would be all right if Webb stayed the night?
‘Webb, that’s a strange name for a boy, darling.’ There it was again, she called her brother darling, an endearment she had never yet bestowed on him! Any endearment, come to that!
‘Oh, that’s his surname, Charlie. He calls me Drummond. Christian names aren’t used at our school.’
‘And do you like it, dearest? Your school, I mean, and don’t slurp your soup, sweetheart. It’s not manners to eat so quickly.’
‘Sorry, Charlie,’ he said, continuing to consume his soup hungrily. Johnson moved silently and deftly about the dining room, helped to serve by Nellie, the head parlour-maid. Following the soup came lamb and roast potatoes, a simple dish to suit the boy, Mrs Groves had obviously thought, and then apple pie with lashings of fresh cream. There was cheese afterwards, a platter of Stilton, Cheshire, Cheddar and Gloucestershire with which Brooke drank port.
‘Did you know there’s a tennis court at the back of the house, Mr Armstrong?’ the boy asked smilingly. Robbie was enjoying himself immensely. He had no competition from his brothers which, as the youngest, had held him back. He had Charlie’s undivided attention and the man, Charlie’s new husband, seemed disinclined to talk at all which suited young Robbie down to the ground. He was, on the whole, perfectly happy here at King’s Meadow though he had not expected to be, especially since Charlie had a husband now, an unknown quantity to Robbie. The servants made a fuss of him which he had never experienced before. Kizzie was there to mother him while Charlie was away and the future looked sunny. And
Similar Books
