Read Online Replenish the Earth by Anna Jacobs - Free Book Online

to lead off the hall or off one another in the old-fashioned way, Sarah thought as she followed.
    ‘An’ this were called the winter parlour. Family sat in here an’ ate their meals in here too, when there weren’t any visitors. Warm, it is. That grate throws out a good heat. Best fire in the house, that is.’
    Sarah continued to follow quietly. Afterwards she would walk round again on her own. For now, she was content to get a general idea of what the house, her house , was like and to listen to Mary's rambling reminiscences.
    Opening from the far side of the winter parlour was the library, a long narrow room, forming the west wing that jutted out to the rear, as the stillroom and storage rooms had formed the east wing. Her mother had described her old home often, but that was not the same as seeing it, especially when everything was so much bigger than Sarah had expected. According to her mother, the Manor had been built in bits and pieces, with each generation adding something new.
    There were several rows of old-fashioned books along shelves at one side of the library, but they were as dusty as the rest of the house. There were yards of empty shelves too, as if the library had never been finished. Well, she couldn’t afford to buy books, so they must stay empty.
    ‘There!’ Mary pounced on something. ‘This is your grandmother’s book.’ She opened it and ran a finger over the faded black handwriting. ‘Wish I could read it. She knew some clever things, Squire’s lady did.’
    Sarah looked at the book, promising herself to read it from cover to cover one day, then laid it down carefully, for Mary was waiting for her at the far end of the room, to show two more small rooms leading off it, one Squire’s private cabinet and the other the estate office which had a door leading straight outside, so that tenants didn’t need to pass through the house.
    ‘’Ent been any business done in there for years, though, mistress,’ cackled Mary. ‘Squire said there weren’t enough of the estate left to need a bailiff, let alone an estate office an’ he told us to shut that room up. Said it could rot, for all he cared. That Frenchie took care of most things after that – an’ Will Pursley helped some. He might be young, but he d’know more about runnin’ a farm than a dozen Frenchies what can’t even talk proper!’
    ‘Who was the - er - Frenchie?’
    ‘Squire's manservant. Looked after his clothes an’ such. Even at the end, your grandfather were fussy about his clothes an’ you never saw him outside his bedroom without his wig.’
    Up the wide, shallow stairs there were ten rooms, a number which took Sarah’s breath away, most of them opening into the long gallery which ran the length of that floor. The great chamber was really a suite of rooms over the west wing.
    ‘Just for dressin’ in, these little rooms at each side were,’ Mary said proudly, flinging doors open and sending them crashing back into walls.
    Most of the other bedrooms were a jumble of furniture, some of it shrouded, some of it uncovered and dusty. Some had broken windows, partly boarded up.
    ‘Will comes sometimes an’ stops the worst of the weather from gettin’ in,’ Mary said. ‘But it were me an’ Petey what brung the old furniture down out o’ the attics when the roof got bad. It d’get worse every year! Squire wouldn’t hev the carpenter in, neither. Said the house’d last his time an’ after that, he didn’t care none.’
    ‘Did he - ever mention my mother?’
    ‘Wouldn’t hev her name spoke, mistress, beggin’ your pardon. Nor your uncle’s, neither, after he died - not once Squire found out how much money Mr Ralph owed. Terrible lot, it must ha’ been, an’ the master left to pay it! Don’t seem right, that don’t, do it? Mr Sewell’s got a good deal to answer for. My Harry was alive then an’ we was livin' over the stables an’ . . . '
    ‘What did my grandfather do next?’ Sarah interrupted,