Hope - Lesley Pearse [65]
But it was loyal and long-suffering Baines who bore the brunt of the cutbacks. He had always acted as Sir William’s valet, lit fires and cleaned shoes. But now he was filling in everywhere – maintenance jobs around the house, even sweeping the stable yard and polishing the brass on the front door when no one else could find time for it.
As a result of all the extra duties, Hope no longer lived in the gatehouse with Nell and Albert. She had Ruth’s old room up in the attic, and though she had to work far harder now, at least when she was done for the day she didn’t have to put up with Albert’s sullen silence or his disapproving looks.
She missed Ruth and James, but she missed Rufus far more. After his accident in the pond there had been a special kind of bond between them. As the days of his departure for school grew closer and closer, Baines and Ruth had allowed her to spend much of the day with him. They did jigsaw puzzles up in the nursery, played cards and invented dozens of different guessing games. She could tell he was worried about going away to school; he would scowl at the shiny new trunk in the corner of the nursery that Ruth was gradually filling with clothes, and told her he would run away if he didn’t like it. But Hope kept telling him that all the new boys would be just the same as him and he’d soon make friends, then she’d distract him with a new game.
Lady Harvey still wasn’t back when he had to leave, but his father returned to take him in the trap. Everyone went out to the drive to wave him off, and there were tears in all their eyes as he bravely shouted his goodbyes and pretended he was happy to go.
Hope expected that he’d be influenced by his new friends and that when he came home for the holidays, he wouldn’t want a kitchenmaid for a companion. But she was wrong; as soon as he got back to Briargate he always came straight down to the kitchen to find her. Nell and Baines took the line that it was better for Rufus to be in the kitchen or going for a walk with Hope than seeing his father drunk, his mother weeping, or hearing the pair of them squabbling.
Nell would often sigh and recall the happy times when Rufus was still a baby. Sir William might have been away a great deal at that time, but when he was here he and Lady Harvey played together with their son, and the master never locked himself away in his study to drink.
Often now when he was reeling drunk, he’d go looking for Lady Harvey and pick a fight with her. Rose claimed she must have had to clear up broken china or glasses a score of times after he’d been on the rampage.
‘Those egg whites will collapse if you beat them any more!’ Martha exclaimed, bringing Hope out of her reverie.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t notice,’ Hope replied, and handed the bowl over to the cook for the dessert she was making. ‘I wonder how long Lady Harvey will be gone this time.’
Martha shrugged. ‘Who knows? She’d better be back for Christmas, Master Rufus won’t like it if she isn’t. And let’s hope Albert can get into Bath tomorrow, the roads will be treacherous.’
There had been heavy rain throughout September and October, and now there were hard frosts every night. It had been a poor harvest this year and if it was a very cold winter too, everyone knew there would be great suffering in the surrounding villages. Even Matt was struggling now. His father-in-law had died the previous year, and with a wife, her one still unmarried sister and his mother-in-law to keep, along with three children of his own, he had a job to keep his head above water.
From time to time Hope thought of trying to find a position in Bristol or Bath, for her life here was nothing but work and more work, with no company of her own age. James would write and describe the harvest suppers and the Christmas party the servants had at Littlecote and it sounded so much fun to be in a big household.
But Baines had advised her against leaving until she was a skilled enough cook to