heart wasn’t in them now. She just wanted it to be bedtime so that she could read some more of the young maid’s past. It was incredible to think that Martha had once known every room in this house just as she herself now did, and Jess was intrigued to read on and discover more about the girl’s life.
Beth arrived on the kitchen doorstep later in the afternoon and Jess beckoned her inside where she was preparing a large bowl of salad to accompany the cooked ham they were going to have for their evening meal. Beth looked eagerly around the kitchen, the smile on her face as bright as an electric light bulb as she asked expectantly, ‘S . . . Simon?’
‘Sorry, sweetheart. Simon is still at work, and he’s likely to be late back this evening. He has a very big job on and he’s trying to get as much done as he can whilst the weather is still on his side.’ Seeing the girl’s crestfallen expression, she suggested, ‘Why don’t you take Alfie for a little walk around the lawn? He gets very lonely while Jo is at school and he loves to see you.’
Slightly more cheerful again, Beth instantly rose, and seconds later she flew out of the door with Alfie following close behind, his tail wagging joyfully.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Jess postponed her trip into town, intending to go the next day, and Simon arrived home late as she had expected, tired and more than a little frazzled. ‘I reckon I’ll have a soak in the bath and turn in, if you don’t mind,’ he said after he’d eaten his meal. ‘I’ve got another early start tomorrow and I’m all in.’
Jess was secretly relieved, and once he was fast asleep in bed she slipped in at the side of him and took Martha’s book from the drawer. Within no time at all everything else faded away as she was drawn back into the early summer of 1837 . . .
June 24
Despite all my good intentions, this is the first day I have had time to write anything in my book since Granny Reid gave it to me on my birthday. The Master’s friends arrived later that day as expected and stayed for three whole days, during which time we were all run off our feet seeing to their needs. Granny is none too pleased at all with the way they have conducted themselves . . .
‘I don’t know.’ Granny Reid pushed a strand of greying hair from her forehead as she placed a damp huckaback cloth over the dough and left it to rise. ‘This place is gettin’ to be little better than a bawdy-house, wi’ all the Master’s goin’s-on.’ She clapped her hands, sending a cloud of flour into the hot kitchen. ‘Thank the Lord the poor Mistress left when she did. I wonder the poor lamb stuck ’im for as long as she did.’
Grace and Martha exchanged an amused glance as the older woman shuffled away to the oven to check the goose that was cooking in it. They knew what their granny was like when she got a bee in her bonnet about the Master.
‘An’ has the wine arrived yet? I ordered it two days ago.’
‘Not yet,’ Grace answered.
‘Huh! Happen it won’t neither.’ Granny Reid tutted. ‘If he don’t settle some of his bills soon, we’re goin’ to have to go further afield for supplies. Hammond’s in town nearly shut the door in poor Bertie’s face when he took the last order in, an’ they told him there’ll be no more till the accounts is settled.’
Bertie, who was sitting at the kitchen table eating his lunch, nodded in confirmation.
‘They did that, an’ so did Lumley’s,’ he said. ‘The Master’s bills are as long as yer arm, but when I told him what they’d said, you’d have thought it were me as had run the bills up.’ He bit into a thick slice of bread and cheese. ‘An’ I’m tellin’ you now,’ he mumbled, ‘the wine in the cellar is almost gone. Lord knows what he’ll do when his guests turn up tonight if it don’t arrive. No doubt that’ll be my fault, an’ all.’
‘How can it be your fault?’ Grace said protectively. ‘An’ what guests
Beth arrived on the kitchen doorstep later in the afternoon and Jess beckoned her inside where she was preparing a large bowl of salad to accompany the cooked ham they were going to have for their evening meal. Beth looked eagerly around the kitchen, the smile on her face as bright as an electric light bulb as she asked expectantly, ‘S . . . Simon?’
‘Sorry, sweetheart. Simon is still at work, and he’s likely to be late back this evening. He has a very big job on and he’s trying to get as much done as he can whilst the weather is still on his side.’ Seeing the girl’s crestfallen expression, she suggested, ‘Why don’t you take Alfie for a little walk around the lawn? He gets very lonely while Jo is at school and he loves to see you.’
Slightly more cheerful again, Beth instantly rose, and seconds later she flew out of the door with Alfie following close behind, his tail wagging joyfully.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Jess postponed her trip into town, intending to go the next day, and Simon arrived home late as she had expected, tired and more than a little frazzled. ‘I reckon I’ll have a soak in the bath and turn in, if you don’t mind,’ he said after he’d eaten his meal. ‘I’ve got another early start tomorrow and I’m all in.’
Jess was secretly relieved, and once he was fast asleep in bed she slipped in at the side of him and took Martha’s book from the drawer. Within no time at all everything else faded away as she was drawn back into the early summer of 1837 . . .
June 24
Despite all my good intentions, this is the first day I have had time to write anything in my book since Granny Reid gave it to me on my birthday. The Master’s friends arrived later that day as expected and stayed for three whole days, during which time we were all run off our feet seeing to their needs. Granny is none too pleased at all with the way they have conducted themselves . . .
‘I don’t know.’ Granny Reid pushed a strand of greying hair from her forehead as she placed a damp huckaback cloth over the dough and left it to rise. ‘This place is gettin’ to be little better than a bawdy-house, wi’ all the Master’s goin’s-on.’ She clapped her hands, sending a cloud of flour into the hot kitchen. ‘Thank the Lord the poor Mistress left when she did. I wonder the poor lamb stuck ’im for as long as she did.’
Grace and Martha exchanged an amused glance as the older woman shuffled away to the oven to check the goose that was cooking in it. They knew what their granny was like when she got a bee in her bonnet about the Master.
‘An’ has the wine arrived yet? I ordered it two days ago.’
‘Not yet,’ Grace answered.
‘Huh! Happen it won’t neither.’ Granny Reid tutted. ‘If he don’t settle some of his bills soon, we’re goin’ to have to go further afield for supplies. Hammond’s in town nearly shut the door in poor Bertie’s face when he took the last order in, an’ they told him there’ll be no more till the accounts is settled.’
Bertie, who was sitting at the kitchen table eating his lunch, nodded in confirmation.
‘They did that, an’ so did Lumley’s,’ he said. ‘The Master’s bills are as long as yer arm, but when I told him what they’d said, you’d have thought it were me as had run the bills up.’ He bit into a thick slice of bread and cheese. ‘An’ I’m tellin’ you now,’ he mumbled, ‘the wine in the cellar is almost gone. Lord knows what he’ll do when his guests turn up tonight if it don’t arrive. No doubt that’ll be my fault, an’ all.’
‘How can it be your fault?’ Grace said protectively. ‘An’ what guests
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