Read Online Lady Jane by Norma Lee Clark - Free Book Online Page A

however, when the carriage pulled up at a door at the end of one of the wings, and the taciturn coachman pointed wordlessly at the door, indicating her direction. She climbed down and reached for her box. The coachman drove off and she was alone. She straightened her shoulders and knocked firmly on the door. After a moment it opened to reveal a portly, red-cheeked old woman with white hair peeping from beneath her cap.
    “You’ll be Coombes, then?” she said abruptly.
    “Yes, that’s right, Jane Coombes, sent by Lady Stanier in Lunnon,” Jane replied with an open, almost coaxing, smile.
    But the woman seemed immune to charm. She stepped back and made a small, economical motion with her head to indicate that Jane should enter. She closed the door carefully, and moved past Jane to waddle ponderously up the hall. There was nothing for Jane to do but follow.
    After knocking softly on a door, the woman opened it and announced, “Here’s the girl, Mrs. Plummer.”
    She turned and motioned Jane to enter and came in after her. Jane was confronted with another elderly lady seated before a fire mending linen. The woman finished setting a very small careful stitch before looking Jane up and down with her faded blue eyes. There was no hostility in her glance, but there was a certain guardedness in her expression, as though determined to give nothing away.
    Jane came forward and bobbed her a polite curtsy, and again smiled. “You’re Mrs. Plummer? I’m Jane Coombes. You’ll be the housekeeper?”
    “Yes. And this is Mrs. McKirk, the cook. She’ll show you to your room. It’s just down the hall. We’re all in this wing. Are you hungry?”
    “Oh, yes, ma’am, very peckish, ’deed. Must be all the fresh air in these parts, but it seems hours since me breakfast.”
    “Very well. Mrs. McKirk will give you something and then you can go to your room and change before I take you to m’lady.”
    “Change? What should I change to, ma’am?”
    “I’ve put out a gown and apron in your room from the last girl we had. You’re of a size, I think, so it should fit you.”
    Mrs. Plummer turned back to her torn bed sheet dismissively, and Jane turned as she heard Mrs. McKirk opening the door. What was the matter with these folks, anyway, she wondered? They acted for all the world as though they grudged her a few words, not to speak of a smile or a friendly look. If I’m to be takin’ all the work off their backs, seems like they should show a little more friendly than this, she thought resentfully.
    But she couldn’t quarrel with the generosity of the portion of cold sliced ham and bread and butter Mrs. McKirk set before her. Evidently they didn’t begrudge food, so she wouldn’t starve at any rate.
    The room she was taken to when she’d polished off every last crumb of her meal was not in any way like the room she’d shared at the Montmorency’s. It was fair-sized and had a large window through which the afternoon sun streamed cheerfully. The bed, when she bounced on it experimentally, promised comfort and the linen was clean.
    She hung her gown and pelisse on pegs behind a curtain in the corner and put on the dark blue gown. It was somewhat tight across the bosom, but otherwise fit fairly well. There was a white cap and apron and when she had the costume on, she returned to the kitchen to await Mrs. Plummer’s summons.
    She heard a bell tinkle presently from the hall outside the kitchen and jumped up nervously, smoothing down her apron and checking her cap. This would be m’lady, no doubt. Will I suit? Will she be as kind as her sister?
    She heard Mrs. Plummer’s steps in the hallway and went eagerly to the door. When Mrs. Plummer saw her she motioned Jane to follow and turned to go up the hall to the front of the house.
    But before they reached the doorway that obviously led to the front, Mrs. Plummer turned aside and went up the backstairs.
    Above stairs, the broad, carpeted hallway was dim and silent, lined with