Half Moon Street - Anne Perry [93]
The girl obeyed with enthusiasm, pounding the knots and gouging them undone. It was a considerable victory.
Next she taught the child how to clean the cane stand in the hall with lemon juice and salt, then how to shine the brass in the withdrawing room with olive oil, and then sent her to find beer from the servants’ hall and have Cook set it on the hearth for a few minutes to warm it. With that, she instructed her how to clean the dark wood of the mantel.
“I’d teach you how to clean diamonds in gin,” she said tartly, “if Mrs. Fielding had any diamonds!”
“Or any gin,” the child added. “I never met anyone afore wot knows so much!” Her eyes were wide with admiration. “D’yer know ’ow ter get rid o’ scorch marks an’ all? We got a terrible one on the master’s shirt yesterday, an’ the mistress’ll be proper tore up w’en she knows.”
“If she were any use she’d know how to get it out herself !” Mariah said with satisfaction. Here at the back of the house she could not hear every carriage that passed, or footsteps coming and going. She would not see Caroline, or Joshua if he came home. She would not have to hear them, the confusion, the pain. “Vinegar, fuller’s earth, washing soda and a small onion chopped fine,” she went on. “You should know that! Can’t throw out a good piece of linen just because there’s a scorch mark on it. Make a paste, spread it on the stain, and let it dry. Brush it off the next day.”
“ ’Ow much vinegar?” the girl asked.
“What?”
“ ’Ow much vinegar, please, ma’am?”
She took a deep breath and told the girl the proportions.
The rest of the morning passed with other minor duties, excuses to fill the time. She ate no luncheon. It was as if her throat had closed.
By mid-afternoon she could no longer avoid Caroline without some very good excuse. She considered saying she was ill, or even that she had fallen downstairs and was in too much pain to remain out of her bed. But then Caroline would send for the doctor, whether she wanted it or not, and that might provoke all sorts of worse things. She would be proved a liar. No. Far better she exercise courage and self-mastery. She was going to have to for the rest of her life. This afternoon was an excellent time to begin.
She changed into a suitable black bombazine afternoon dress with jet beading on the bodice, and put on a smart brooch she had not worn for thirty years. It was not a mourning brooch, with a carefully preserved coil or braid of hair. It was a handsome crystal piece with pearls.
She went down to the withdrawing room, and there was no one there.
Caroline’s morning began equally wretchedly, but she was looking for something to do to keep her mind from turning over and over the same miserable thoughts when she half overheard the one manservant they kept talking with the housemaid.
“How could I?” he said indignantly. They were standing by the sideboard in the dining room and she was regarding the silver with distaste. “That old devil sent me out in a rush like the house was on fire. Had to go. She said it was urgent, life an’ death, as you might say.”
“Sent you?” she said with her eyebrows raised. “Where?”
“To fetch Mr. Fielding, of course,” he replied. “And he came home hotfoot, and threw out that American gentleman that’s been here so often. Then went right back out hisself.”
“Pity.” She shook her head. “He was very nice spoken, but I s’pose he was here a bit much, like. Anyway, I’ve got no time to stand here gossiping, and neither have you. You’d best get those knives done now, and quick, or Cook’ll be after you. You’re all behind!”
“So would you be, if you’d been all the way to the theatre an’ back!” he retorted, picking up the knives and going out, leaving the door open.
Caroline stood still, her mind racing. Joshua