Hope - Lesley Pearse [47]
Hope felt that although he said he was glad the Captain had been here in the emergency, he was a bit annoyed that a visitor had taken over his role.
‘It may be weeks before Cook is well enough to work again,’ he said, but the sad tone of his voice hinted that he didn’t expect to see her in the kitchen ever again. ‘Meanwhile we must all keep the house running smoothly by pitching in and doing extra duties.’
He divided up Rose’s parlourmaid duties between the other maids and told Rose she would have to take Cook’s place.
‘I can’t do that, Mr Baines.’ Rose looked aghast. ‘Nell and Ruth are both much better at it than me.’
Baines shrugged. ‘Then it will be useful practice for you. Hope will help you – she may be very young but Cook has trained her well.’
Hope glowed at the words of praise, but a second later she was smarting because Baines said she would also have to help Ruby with the fire-lighting in the mornings. In effect this would mean Hope would have to do almost all of it, for Ruby was slow, and struggled with just the fires in the nursery and schoolroom.
Baines then went on to say he was also going to ask Lady Harvey if she would consider cancelling the big dinner party she had planned for the following week as Rose was not an experienced cook.
Baines had only just left the kitchen when Albert came to the back door. He was very dirty and his face was like thunder.
‘Why are you still here?’ he snarled at Hope. ‘The fire’s out and there’s no supper for me.’
Because of all the drama, Hope hadn’t noticed that it was well after six. She always went home after laying the tray for Master Rufus’s tea, and it was her job to stir up the fire, put the kettle on and heat up whatever Nell had made for Albert’s supper in readiness for his return home around six.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, then launched into an explanation about Cook.
‘That’s no concern of mine,’ he snapped, cutting her off in mid-sentence. ‘A man who has been working outside all day needs his victuals. Get home now.’
Rose came into the kitchen just as Hope was getting her shawl and bonnet. ‘Nell won’t be home tonight,’ she called out to Albert. ‘Baines thinks she might be needed here.’
Hope’s heart sank as she saw Albert’s face darken even further at discovering he would be without his personal lackey for the night, but Rose had now aggravated him still further by speaking so dismissively.
There was a sharp frost again, and Hope shivered as she trotted along behind Albert in the dark. She was scared: to her knowledge Nell hadn’t been able to slip home earlier in the day to prepare some food for his supper as she usually did. If the fire had gone out too, it would be ages before Hope would be able to rustle something up. Albert wasn’t going to like that.
The cottage was icy cold, the stove out. This was evidence Nell hadn’t been back during the day as she always put more fuel on it when she came in. Hope quickly raked it out, laid a few dry twigs over some paper and then set light to it. She was very nervous because Albert was standing over her, glowering, and she offered up a silent prayer that it wouldn’t go out. Luck was on her side: the wood caught quickly and as she slowly added larger pieces of wood they blazed merrily.
‘Let me take your coat, and you sit down here where it’s warmer,’ she said, looking up at Albert. She wouldn’t normally have spoken so sweetly to him, but she was afraid he was going to explode.
‘I want hot tea and something in my belly,’ he snarled. ‘And quickly.’
Hope put the kettle on and scuttled out to look in the pantry which was situated in the lean-to scullery. There was half a loaf of bread, some cheese and the remains of the lamb stew from the previous night. She breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn’t have to prepare something from scratch.
Within fifteen minutes Hope had the kettle on the boil, the table laid and the potatoes cooking. She had added a few lumps of coal to the stove to keep the blaze more constant, and as