Читать книгу The Campbell Road Girls - Kay Brellend - Страница 9

‘Like it here, do you?’

‘Like having me here, do you?’ Lucy returned, equally sarcastic. She knew who’d spoken without taking a look so she finished leisurely positioning Lady Mortimer’s combs on the dressing table before turning to confront the woman behind her.

Lucy had just about had her fill of Audrey Stubbs spying on her. Since she’d started work at Mortimer House at the beginning of the week, whether she’d been brushing clothes or refilling scent bottles and cosmetic pots, the housemaid had seemed to materialise at the corner of her eye. Audrey could have been hovering on the threshold of her ladyship’s bedroom for some time before Lucy realised she was again being stalked.

‘Don’t make a blind bit of difference to me if you’re here or there,’ Audrey answered airily, lazily polishing the brass door knob with her pinafore.

‘Could’ve sworn it did,’ Lucy retorted. ‘’Cos ever since I started on Monday you’ve been on me back about something.’ She glanced past Audrey to check nobody was nearby to overhear. ‘What’s got your goat?’ Lucy demanded sharply. ‘I taken a job you was after?’ She’d stabbed a guess at the reason for Audrey’s animosity and seemed to have turned up trumps. The maid’s lips tightened and the malice in her eyes was concealed behind her eyelashes.

‘Let’s face it, if you’d been up to the work you’d’ve got it ’cos you was here first,’ Lucy pointed out with vague amusement. ‘Must be a reason why you was overlooked.’ She went back to the dressing table and picked up a delicate comb. She leisurely turned it this way and that. ‘P’raps Mrs Boyd ain’t any keener on you than I am.’

‘Think yer clever, don’t you? Coming here ’n’ swanking around, ’cos you managed to land a plum job. I’ve seen you eyeing up the men, don’t think I ain’t.’ Audrey had approached stealthily to jab twice at Lucy’s arm to gain her attention.

‘What?’ Lucy glanced over a shoulder, her features crumpled in incomprehension. She’d been used to getting attention from male colleagues when she’d worked at Lockley Grange. But there, or here, she’d never yet met one who’d interested her enough to make her stare back. Since she was a little girl she’d been told she was pretty. But all the Keiver women were lookers in their own way so she had never felt the need to boast about it.

‘If Mrs Boyd gets a sniff of how you’ve been carryin’ on with Rory Jackson, you’ll be out on yer ear, and serve you right.’

Lucy itched to slap the smirk off Audrey’s face but was puzzled by what the housemaid had just implied. ‘Carrying on with Rory?’ she echoed, frowning.

Rory was one of two chauffeurs who ferried about Lord and Lady Mortimer and their children. Apart from a bit of bantering at breakfast time earlier in the week, when they’d sat next to each other in the servants’ dining hall, she’d had little to do with Rory. They’d passed on the back stairs earlier that day, he descending and she travelling speedily in the opposite direction as she’d been told to fetch her ladyship’s favourite kid boots to be soled and heeled. The lad appointed to run to the cobblers had been impatiently waiting by the kitchen door for her return so she hadn’t dawdled, and had exchanged with Rory just a good morning. The most she could bring to mind about him was that he’d got fair hair, a pleasing face, and looked smart in his chauffeur’s uniform. Suddenly the penny dropped and she realised Audrey probably had a crush on him. Lucy raised her eyes heavenward in an effort to persuade her colleague there was no reason for her to be jealous on that score.

‘If you’ve got yer sights set on Rory Jackson, you can have him with my compliments.’

‘Not good enough for you, is that it? Proper full of yourself, ain’t you, Miss Keiver?’

Lucy huffed in disbelief. ‘What’s up with you? Look, I’m telling you you’re welcome to him. From what I’ve seen so far there ain’t one fellow here I’d walk out with, let alone pine over.’ Her tone was all mock sympathy. ‘Now, why don’t you sling yer ’ook so I can get on ’n’ do what I’m supposed to be doing ’stead of listening to your stupid prattle.’

‘I’ve met your type before.’ Audrey grabbed Lucy’s arm and jerked her around. ‘Butter wouldn’t melt one minute, then the next you’re round the back o’ the washhouse with yer drawers round yer ankles.’

‘Let go of me arm.’

‘Why, what you gonna do ... make me?’

As Audrey’s spittle flecked her face Lucy instinctively shoved a hand hard against her shoulder. Audrey tottered backwards with a grunt of surprise and ended on her posterior on the polished floor just as her ladyship’s maid walked in.

‘What the devil is going on here?’ Mrs Boyd barked, her round, bespectacled face a study of shock and disgust.

‘Lucy Keiver just pushed me over, Mrs Boyd.’ Audrey had immediately turned on the waterworks and was dabbing at her face with the pinafore she’d whipped up. She scrambled on to her knees and continued whimpering, presenting a picture of hurt innocence.

Determined to keep the disturbance, which had vexingly occurred on her patch, undetected until she’d had some facts, Mrs Boyd immediately hurried to shut all connecting doors. ‘Explain yourself, Lucy Keiver,’ she hissed.

‘I didn’t want this to happen,’ Lucy began. ‘I was just setting out her ladyship’s brushes and combs like you asked me to when Audrey come up behind and started accusing me of stupid stuff.’ She moistened her lips. She didn’t want to tell tales; at the Grange the servants had had an unspoken pact that, barring gross misconduct, they never grassed one another up. But Audrey hadn’t hesitated in immediately putting the blame on her. Lucy had not even finished one full week in her new job. She’d been growing to like it here too, despite having been put in the same dormitory as Audrey Stubbs. All she’d done was try to get the stupid cow to back off and leave her alone. It was her own fault she’d ended up on her backside, snivelling.

‘Accusing you of what?’ Mrs Boyd snapped, inclining stiffly forward. ‘Come on, out with it.’

‘She thinks I’m flirting with the men. She thinks I’m after Rory Jackson and I only met him Monday and haven’t said more’n half a dozen words to him.’

‘I reckon you’ve done more’n that with him,’ Audrey sniped, and narrowed her gaze on Mrs Boyd to gauge the woman’s reaction.

‘Enough!’ Clare Boyd had heard about Audrey being involved in a scuffle over a different male employee. Allegedly, she’d been found outside, smoking and flirting with one of the gardeners and a tussle had ensued in the kitchen with another girl. It had been Mrs Venner’s responsibility to sort that one out but apparently she’d let it pass because there’d been no witnesses to the fight and neither girl had made a complaint.

Mrs Boyd felt relieved that she’d had no hand in taking on Audrey. The housekeeper had been solely responsible for her recruitment. But Clare had been present when Mrs Venner interviewed Lucy Keiver and she had sanctioned her employment. Lucy had seemed to have an honest forthright manner – and an excellent reference from her previous employer – and Clare had believed she’d make a good addition to the household. She sighed to herself. In the old days, before the war, you could get decent staff, but these youngsters coming through were no good at all. They had no interest in anything but dancing, smoking and flirting with the opposite sex.

‘Don’t think it’s gone unnoticed by me that you have no business being here in Lady Mortimer’s chamber,’ Mrs Boyd snapped at Audrey. ‘The upstairs cleaning was all finished hours ago. And I believe it’s not two weeks since you were reprimanded for shirking outside instead of working.’ She looked from one downcast face to the other. ‘I’ll speak to Mrs Venner later and you can each explain to her your disgraceful conduct. Now get about your duties.’

As Lucy proceeded along the corridor she was aware of many pairs of eyes following her and a hush descending where moments before had been heard lively chatter. She pursed her lips and inched up her chin. Of course, the other servants had been gossiping over the brouhaha upstairs concerning her and Audrey Stubbs, and the likely punishments they would receive.

At the Grange, if Lucy had been given a ticking-off for some misdemeanour – and she’d certainly had some from her sister and brother-in-law – she’d have got sympathetic smiles from her colleagues. Not here. Cold glances and turned shoulders met her lonely progress towards the kitchens. Once she’d passed by she heard a few sniggers and her fingers curled at her sides.

She’d just had her dressing-down from Mrs Venner and had been told her punishment was the loss of her afternoon off next week. It had come as a bitter blow because she’d planned on persuading her mother to take a trip round to her sister Beth’s house. But she hadn’t felt it prudent to argue or even offer to have her pay docked instead. She’d simply bitten her lip and waited to be dismissed by the housekeeper.

She was the newest member of staff and had not yet made any friends amongst her colleagues. Prue Bates, who was the other girl sharing the dormitory in which she and Audrey slept, had been standoffish from the start and had marked her territory very clearly in the cramped attic room. Lucy considered most of them quite snooty for hired help. But it didn’t worry her; she liked her work, learning to care for her ladyship and her daughters’ swish clothes and accessories. She’d also fetched bits and pieces from the haberdashers and milliners. Lucy didn’t mind at all being an errand girl for it got her out of the house for a while. After the sedate pace of life at Lockley Grange the crowds and the bustle in London fascinated her. She’d walk along looking about and jumping out of her skin when hooting vehicles chugged past. Mostly the fellows were just impatient to get going in traffic but she’d noticed a delivery driver had done it to get her attention and give her a saucy signal.

So far she’d had little contact with the mistress or her two young daughters. Mrs Boyd kept her in the background as much as possible and took all the praise for jobs well done. But Lucy knew there was time enough to make her mark; she was being trained to be the Mortimer girls’ personal maid when they were older.

On the whole she’d found Mrs Boyd a fair boss and wasn’t resentful about being disciplined. But Lucy felt dejected that camaraderie, so much in evidence at the Grange when the mistress had been alive, seemed to be lacking here. Rory Jackson seemed friendly but his harmless attention to her had got her into trouble. Reflecting on him seemed to have conjured him up. Her sideways glance through the open door of the servants’ hall landed on his lean figure. He saw her too and strolled up to her.

‘You didn’t hang about in getting yourself into trouble, did you?’

Lucy kept on walking without replying to his amused statement. He followed her as she carried on towards the kitchens.

‘What started it off?’

‘As if you didn’t know,’ Lucy muttered.

‘What you on about? Why would I know anything?’

Lucy halted and planted her hands on her hips. ‘Don’t tell me it ain’t gone round like wildfire. No doubt Audrey’s got her side in first. As I’m the new girl I’m the culprit, right?’

‘Touchy, ain’t you? Carry on like that and everybody will think you’re at fault.’

‘They can think what they bloody well like!’ Lucy gritted out through set teeth. ‘I know what went on, and that’s enough for me.’

‘It’s enough for me too. You say it’s her fault, I believe you.’

‘Why’s that, then?’ Lucy started off again at a slower pace, slanting him a look.

‘Ain’t the first time Audrey’s got caught out. Don’t suppose it’ll be the last. Only next time she’ll get the boot. Everybody’s allowed a few warnings here at Mortimer House, and she’s had hers.’

Lucy recalled that Mrs Boyd had snapped at Audrey because she’d recently been in trouble.

‘What started it off?’ he again asked.

As it concerned him, and was a bit embarrassing, Lucy considered telling Rory to mind his own business, but instead she blurted out the truth. ‘Audrey thinks I’ve got me eye on you and she don’t like it. If you and her have a thing, you’ve got my sympathy, ’cos she’s a right nasty cow, as far as I can see.’ She eyed him frostily. ‘On the other hand, if you’ve been winding her up on purpose, saying I’m after you, when I ain’t, then the two of you deserve each other, ’cos you’re no better than she is.’ Lucy made to walk quickly on but Rory grabbed her elbow and tugged her back.

‘I don’t know her much better’n I know you. As I said, she’s only been here a short while. Neither of you takes my fancy ... no offence.’

‘None taken ... and likewise,’ Lucy rattled off. But she felt miffed by his clipped words and amused air, and ripped her elbow free of his grip.

Rory followed a few paces behind her marching figure. ‘Is that all you were fighting about? Audrey thinking we’d been flirting?’ he asked lightly.

‘We didn’t fight over you so don’t go getting conceited ideas. If anything, I reckon she’s more narked she didn’t get my job.’

‘She did want it. Everybody knew that. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised that a lot of people aren’t jumping to any conclusions over what happened today.’

Lucy turned and gazed up at his lean profile.

‘Where was you when she started on you?’

‘In the mistress’s bedroom.’ Lucy took the last few steps to the kitchen and stopped outside the door. She was going to ask for a sandwich and eat it in her room rather than sit with her colleagues glaring at her at teatime.

‘Ain’t the first time she’s been caught dawdling in a place she shouldn’t be. She’s workshy, that one.’ Rory plunged his hands into his pockets.

‘She had a set-to with anybody else?’

He nodded. ‘Couple of times since she’s been here. Millie ...’ He saw Lucy’s frown and explained, ‘Housemaid who comes in twice a week, you’ve probably not yet met her ... she gave Audrey a smack when she found out she’d been canoodling with her sweetheart. Jack helps out in the garden and, officially, him and Audrey were just sharing a crafty smoke, nothing more to it.’

‘And unofficially?’ Lucy suggested drily.

‘Jack couldn’t help boasting to a few of us men that he’d been on the verge of getting a roll in the hay.’ He chuckled softly. ‘Right puffed up, he were, the little tyke, ’cos he reckoned Audrey wouldn’t take no for an answer.’

Lucy blushed, feeling indignant that the brazen trollop had had the cheek to accuse her of being the sort to drop her drawers out in the open! ‘Who else has she been in trouble with?’ Lucy’s question tumbled out.

‘Susan Reeves; your predecessor came across Audrey in her ladyship’s room just after she’d laid out some of her clothes for a fancy evening do. By all accounts she gave Audrey a right piece of her mind.’ Rory propped an elbow against the wall, casually supporting a cheek on an open palm. ‘Audrey had only been here a few days and got away with saying she was confused and didn’t know it was the personal maids’ job to bring up the mistress’s clean linen.’

Lucy gave a little nod to let him know she’d appreciate knowing more.

‘Susan reckoned that Audrey was overawed seeing all her ladyship’s finery,’ Rory resumed. ‘When she disturbed Audrey she’d got one of Lady Mortimer’s frocks held up against her and was staring at herself in the glass.’ He shrugged. ‘Susan just packed her off with a flea in her ear. She never told Mrs Venner or Mrs Boyd about it. No harm had been done and as Susan had already put in her notice and was leaving at the end of the week to get wed it wasn’t worth making a fuss.’

‘Susan confided all this in you, did she?’ Lucy asked waspishly.

Rory grinned. ‘Nah ... her fiancé, Gus Miller, did. He’s a friend of mine. Don’t suppose I’ll see much of old Dusty now he’s leg-shackled and gone off to Essex.’

‘That’s where I’ve just come from,’ Lucy offered up automatically. ‘Big manor house with a farm and acres and acres of land, close to the coast.’

‘Yeah? Whereabouts?’

‘Southend way.’

‘Know Southend.’ Rory nodded in emphasis. ‘No good for you there?’

Lucy shrugged. ‘It were a lot better a while back before Mr Lockley’s first wife died and he got remarried to a right dragon.’ Lucy snapped her lips together. She barely knew Rory and regretted being indiscreet. You never could tell who might know who. ‘Found it a bit dull there so I’ve come back to London to be closer to me mum,’ she added briskly. ‘She’s not been at all well.’ Lucy changed the subject as she sensed Rory to be on the point of questioning her about her family. ‘So, Audrey Stubbs is gonna be one for me to watch, by all accounts.’

Rory twisted about to lean back against the corridor wall so they were face to face and he could study her properly.

‘She’ll hold a grudge against me.’ Lucy grimaced. ‘Not bothered, though. If I find her fiddling about with her ladyship’s belongings I’ll wring her neck.’

‘I reckon you would too.’

He was smiling and Lucy noticed he had nice even white teeth and grey eyes with long lashes. ‘Perhaps you should tell her and put her out of her misery,’ Lucy said abruptly.

‘Tell her?’ he echoed, mystified.

‘You said you don’t fancy her ... perhaps you should tell her and no doubt she’ll turn her attention back to Jack in the garden.’

‘Pity him if she does,’ Rory said, his eyes warm and humorous.

‘Pity her if she does, ’cos from what you’ve said, Millie won’t take kindly to it and might lay her out next time.’

Rory chuckled appreciatively, his gaze becoming intimate, making Lucy’s cheeks sting with heat. ‘Just getting something for me tea,’ she blurted. ‘Ain’t sitting in there with ’em all staring at me, thinking I’ve done wrong when I’ve not. I’ll end up telling somebody their fortune then I’ll lose another of me afternoons off ... or it might even be me job next time.’

‘Lost yer afternoon off?’

‘Made arrangements to take me mum out, too.’

‘Where does your mum live? Far is it?’

Lucy stabbed a look at him and nibbled her lower lip. From the age of about eight years old, when she’d first done a bit of doorstep scrubbing for coppers at weekends, she’d had it drummed into her by her mum and older sisters that you never disclosed to an employer – or for that matter any stranger – that you were out of the Bunk. Campbell Road had a notorious reputation as being the worst street in north London and those who lived there were discriminated against as being the dregs of society. She certainly didn’t know Rory Jackson well enough to confide in him anything as important as where she’d been reared, and where, despite it all, she still considered her real home to be.

‘She lives in north London; not that far.’ It was a brusque reply and Lucy made to open the kitchen door to go to find her tea.

‘Big place, north London. Hampstead way, is she?’ Rory stabbed a guess.

Lucy snorted a laugh. ‘Bit too rich for us.’ She could see he was keen to know so she said airily, ‘Finsbury Park way, if you must know.’ Before he could probe further she’d pushed open the door.

‘You don’t want to hide yourself away.’ Rory put a hand out to bar her way into the kitchen. ‘If you chicken out teatime there’ll be some who’ll think you’re feeling guilty. Turn up, sit down and eat your grub.’ He grinned down at her. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to you if nobody else will.’

‘Yeah, thanks a lot.’ It was drily said but Lucy couldn’t prevent a small smile curving her mouth. ‘That’s how I got in trouble in the first place, Rory Jackson, you talking to me, and making Audrey jealous.’

‘Told you,I ain’t taken no notice of her, and I’ve given her no reason to think I ever will.’ He tilted his face to watch Lucy’s evasive expression. ‘I don’t tell lies.’

‘That right? Why you being so nice to me then? Anybody’d think you fancied me. Yet you’ve just said you don’t.’

A look of mock thoughtfulness put a furrow in his brow but he appeared unabashed by her accusation. ‘All right, I’ll own up. Once in a while I tell a little fib.’ He sauntered off towards the butler’s office. ‘Got to see Mr Collins about some pay I’m due. See you in the dining hall later. Keep your chin up.’