and of course Mr Wilkinson and George and Alan, like. But Dolly and Helen and me, we was in the factory cutting fabrics a week ago. But all the rest of them they’ve come from all over England, quite new to here, and quite new to the house and the master too.’
‘So you have no idea of what is expected of you?’
Agnes shrugged her shoulders, and then shook her head.
‘Mrs Graham said she’d soon lick us into shape. Said there was nothing to it really. Said she was trained herself, like, in two days, and now look at her, she said. Head of the household with charge of the keys, and all.’
‘Why?’ Emmaline wondered as she turned her back on Agnes preparatory to being undressed.
‘Beg your pardon, miss, but why what exactly?’
‘I was just wondering why the entire staff had to be changed all at once, Agnes. It just seems a little odd, that’s all. More than a little odd, in fact.’
‘I don’t know, miss. No one said anything to me and Helen and Dolly. We were just told to report up to Park House to start work as domestics beginning of last week. And Mother she was pleased because she said it was a leg-up for me, and less dangerous than the fabric cutting ’cos a lot of fabric cutters end up blind, what with bits in the eyes an’ all, worse than bookkeepers and clerks, she said, because all of them go blind.’
‘Very well, Agnes.’ Emmaline held up one hand, and after a moment of thought she continued, ‘We had best start from the beginning, then. First you must learn how to take a lady’s dress off, how to do up and undo stays properly, how to fix stockings and garters, and how to hold out the bodice of a day dress and fix the skirt. Most of all, how to be of assistance when helping me on with an evening gown. Over the head – always over the head, and preferably on hooks so we do not, I repeat do not, get any dirty finger or hand marks on fine materials. We are going to have to spend a great deal of time together, and I mean a great deal, so first we have to get it right, and then we have to get along. That is all-important. Is that understood?’
‘Yes, Miss Emmaline,’ Agnes whispered, looking as though she were just about to evaporate.
‘Oh, don’t look
quite
so abject, child!’ Emmaline laughed. ‘I’m not going to eat you, only teach you!’
And as they stood there regarding each other, Agnes fearfully, Emmaline affectionately, Emmaline realised with surprise that this was the first time she had really smiled, let alone laughed, since she had set foot aboard the RMS
Etruria
. It was a shocking fact, but a true one.
Chapter Five
JULIUS AND EMMALINE were finally married six weeks later at a private service in St Mark’s Church, Bamford, conducted by the Reverend Archibald Welton. Henry Ralph acted as Julius’s best man, while in the glaring absence of any male relation, Emmaline was given away by Wilkinson, Julius’s butler, with Agnes in attendance. Her marriage was so unlike anything Emmaline had ever dreamed or imagined for her wedding day that the chief memory she took away from it was one of sheer originality, as she doubted that many young women of her upbringing and background were married with so little ceremony, let alone so few displays of affection, be it familial or marital. Whenever Emmaline had stolen a look at Julius from beneath her veil during the ceremony she had seen that his eyes were closed, and his mouth – normally one of his most attractive attributes – was pursed like that of a small boy. He stared ahead of him, past the rector, at the altar, as if he could see someone there, someone that no one but himself could see. Even as he took up the ring , and his gaze shifted from that far distance to Emmaline’s small elegant hand, even as he slipped the ring on her finger, and the words of the blessing rang out round the church, he did not look at Emmaline, they did not meet each other’s eyes. He could have been a ghost, she could have been a ghost, so
‘So you have no idea of what is expected of you?’
Agnes shrugged her shoulders, and then shook her head.
‘Mrs Graham said she’d soon lick us into shape. Said there was nothing to it really. Said she was trained herself, like, in two days, and now look at her, she said. Head of the household with charge of the keys, and all.’
‘Why?’ Emmaline wondered as she turned her back on Agnes preparatory to being undressed.
‘Beg your pardon, miss, but why what exactly?’
‘I was just wondering why the entire staff had to be changed all at once, Agnes. It just seems a little odd, that’s all. More than a little odd, in fact.’
‘I don’t know, miss. No one said anything to me and Helen and Dolly. We were just told to report up to Park House to start work as domestics beginning of last week. And Mother she was pleased because she said it was a leg-up for me, and less dangerous than the fabric cutting ’cos a lot of fabric cutters end up blind, what with bits in the eyes an’ all, worse than bookkeepers and clerks, she said, because all of them go blind.’
‘Very well, Agnes.’ Emmaline held up one hand, and after a moment of thought she continued, ‘We had best start from the beginning, then. First you must learn how to take a lady’s dress off, how to do up and undo stays properly, how to fix stockings and garters, and how to hold out the bodice of a day dress and fix the skirt. Most of all, how to be of assistance when helping me on with an evening gown. Over the head – always over the head, and preferably on hooks so we do not, I repeat do not, get any dirty finger or hand marks on fine materials. We are going to have to spend a great deal of time together, and I mean a great deal, so first we have to get it right, and then we have to get along. That is all-important. Is that understood?’
‘Yes, Miss Emmaline,’ Agnes whispered, looking as though she were just about to evaporate.
‘Oh, don’t look
quite
so abject, child!’ Emmaline laughed. ‘I’m not going to eat you, only teach you!’
And as they stood there regarding each other, Agnes fearfully, Emmaline affectionately, Emmaline realised with surprise that this was the first time she had really smiled, let alone laughed, since she had set foot aboard the RMS
Etruria
. It was a shocking fact, but a true one.
Chapter Five
JULIUS AND EMMALINE were finally married six weeks later at a private service in St Mark’s Church, Bamford, conducted by the Reverend Archibald Welton. Henry Ralph acted as Julius’s best man, while in the glaring absence of any male relation, Emmaline was given away by Wilkinson, Julius’s butler, with Agnes in attendance. Her marriage was so unlike anything Emmaline had ever dreamed or imagined for her wedding day that the chief memory she took away from it was one of sheer originality, as she doubted that many young women of her upbringing and background were married with so little ceremony, let alone so few displays of affection, be it familial or marital. Whenever Emmaline had stolen a look at Julius from beneath her veil during the ceremony she had seen that his eyes were closed, and his mouth – normally one of his most attractive attributes – was pursed like that of a small boy. He stared ahead of him, past the rector, at the altar, as if he could see someone there, someone that no one but himself could see. Even as he took up the ring , and his gaze shifted from that far distance to Emmaline’s small elegant hand, even as he slipped the ring on her finger, and the words of the blessing rang out round the church, he did not look at Emmaline, they did not meet each other’s eyes. He could have been a ghost, she could have been a ghost, so
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