require anything, Gardener?”
“Nanny sent me down to ask for a pot of chamo-mile tea and a teaspoon for Miss Alexandra, who is teething. I’m afraid I don’t know where the kitchen is.”
“I’ll bring it up directly. Please tell Nanny she may ring the bell for whatever she needs. But I’ll show you how to get to the kitchen. Turn right at the bottom of the back staircase, and the door is next to the gong stand. That’s the servants’ entrance, down the corridor and you’ll find us!”
When I return upstairs, Lord and Lady Milton are in the day nursery.
“Look, Portia, here is Mama’s old piano.” Lady Milton sits, plays a few bars, and stops. She glances at the bookshelf. “I used to read some of those storybooks when I was only a little older than you are now.”
“Will I read soon too, Mama?” Miss Portia asks eagerly.
“Quite soon. When you are five, you will share agoverness with some other little girls and go to their house every morning for lessons. And now, Papa and I must leave. We will send you a pretty postcard from France and see you in a month’s time!
“Nanny, my mother has decided against taking the girls to the seaside. She feels that it will be overcrowded with day-trippers at this time of year. Lady Portman says she has heard there is a lot of whooping cough about! The country air here will be far more beneficial for the children.” I am reprieved!
“Promise me, Portia, that you will be very good girls for Grandmama.”
“Yes, Mama, good as gold.” Miss Portia, overexcited at all the attention she has received, starts to run around the nursery table. I catch her and put my finger on her lips.
Miss Alexandra wriggles down from her father’s arms. He keeps hold of her hand.
“We must dress for dinner. Come along, Rupert.”
Lord Milton hands Miss Alexandra to Nanny Mackintosh. “We leave the children in your excellent hands, Nanny,” he says.
After the door closes behind them, Nanny Mackintosh looks relieved to have the nursery under her command again.
Is she so disagreeable because she is anxious about her position?
“Run the children’s baths, Gardener. We must establish our normal routine before the children getquite out of hand. I shall have to have a word about plain food for nursery meals.”
I run the bathwater, humming with joy. We will not be going to the seaside after all. I did catch a glimpse of a lily pond when I was on the terrace, but the girls will not go near without my holding their hands!
The days pass by too quickly. Cook takes little notice of Nanny’s instructions about simple food, except for bread and milk at bedtime. Lady Portman reads a story to the children every evening, in the drawing room after tea. Miss Portia tells me it is about a naughty rabbit called Peter.
Ellis and I have some walks in the evening, after we complete our tasks. I cannot get over the beauty of the country lanes, with their profusion of wild-flowers and berries changing colors in the hedgerows. Red squirrels play in and under the trees. I have seen a deer, and Miss Portia has spotted a rabbit at the end of the garden. She calls him Peter Rabbit and tries to catch him! She makes for the swing at every opportunity, and I am secretly envious. We play in the gazebo, and the footman brings us lemonade and biscuits midmorning. This must be what paradise is like!
When I take the children out in the garden after breakfast, the gardener feeds us strawberries by thehandful. He shows them the grapes growing in the greenhouse. I ask him to speak to Miss Portia and Miss Alexandra about not going too close to the pond. He is most helpful.
“There are frogs and their babies in the pond. Don’t you go too near, missies, and frighten them. But at night you will hear the frog mother and father sing to them.”
So every night, after I have tucked the girls up in their beds, I open the window and let them listen to the parent frogs sing to their babies. And every night, Miss
“Nanny sent me down to ask for a pot of chamo-mile tea and a teaspoon for Miss Alexandra, who is teething. I’m afraid I don’t know where the kitchen is.”
“I’ll bring it up directly. Please tell Nanny she may ring the bell for whatever she needs. But I’ll show you how to get to the kitchen. Turn right at the bottom of the back staircase, and the door is next to the gong stand. That’s the servants’ entrance, down the corridor and you’ll find us!”
When I return upstairs, Lord and Lady Milton are in the day nursery.
“Look, Portia, here is Mama’s old piano.” Lady Milton sits, plays a few bars, and stops. She glances at the bookshelf. “I used to read some of those storybooks when I was only a little older than you are now.”
“Will I read soon too, Mama?” Miss Portia asks eagerly.
“Quite soon. When you are five, you will share agoverness with some other little girls and go to their house every morning for lessons. And now, Papa and I must leave. We will send you a pretty postcard from France and see you in a month’s time!
“Nanny, my mother has decided against taking the girls to the seaside. She feels that it will be overcrowded with day-trippers at this time of year. Lady Portman says she has heard there is a lot of whooping cough about! The country air here will be far more beneficial for the children.” I am reprieved!
“Promise me, Portia, that you will be very good girls for Grandmama.”
“Yes, Mama, good as gold.” Miss Portia, overexcited at all the attention she has received, starts to run around the nursery table. I catch her and put my finger on her lips.
Miss Alexandra wriggles down from her father’s arms. He keeps hold of her hand.
“We must dress for dinner. Come along, Rupert.”
Lord Milton hands Miss Alexandra to Nanny Mackintosh. “We leave the children in your excellent hands, Nanny,” he says.
After the door closes behind them, Nanny Mackintosh looks relieved to have the nursery under her command again.
Is she so disagreeable because she is anxious about her position?
“Run the children’s baths, Gardener. We must establish our normal routine before the children getquite out of hand. I shall have to have a word about plain food for nursery meals.”
I run the bathwater, humming with joy. We will not be going to the seaside after all. I did catch a glimpse of a lily pond when I was on the terrace, but the girls will not go near without my holding their hands!
The days pass by too quickly. Cook takes little notice of Nanny’s instructions about simple food, except for bread and milk at bedtime. Lady Portman reads a story to the children every evening, in the drawing room after tea. Miss Portia tells me it is about a naughty rabbit called Peter.
Ellis and I have some walks in the evening, after we complete our tasks. I cannot get over the beauty of the country lanes, with their profusion of wild-flowers and berries changing colors in the hedgerows. Red squirrels play in and under the trees. I have seen a deer, and Miss Portia has spotted a rabbit at the end of the garden. She calls him Peter Rabbit and tries to catch him! She makes for the swing at every opportunity, and I am secretly envious. We play in the gazebo, and the footman brings us lemonade and biscuits midmorning. This must be what paradise is like!
When I take the children out in the garden after breakfast, the gardener feeds us strawberries by thehandful. He shows them the grapes growing in the greenhouse. I ask him to speak to Miss Portia and Miss Alexandra about not going too close to the pond. He is most helpful.
“There are frogs and their babies in the pond. Don’t you go too near, missies, and frighten them. But at night you will hear the frog mother and father sing to them.”
So every night, after I have tucked the girls up in their beds, I open the window and let them listen to the parent frogs sing to their babies. And every night, Miss
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