The Ribbon Weaver (18 page)

It was in front of one of these houses that the carriage eventually drew to a halt. Amy peered out at it. It had a lovely, brightly painted front door and a great brass doorknocker in the shape of a lion’s head. Steps led up to the door and an ornate iron railing ran all along the frontage. To one side of this were steps leading down to what Amy correctly guessed was the basement kitchen. The frontage of the house was nowhere near as big as Forrester’s Folly but impressive all the same, and as Samuel helped them down from the carriage, the front door suddenly opened and an elderly lady dressed in a severe black dress appeared on the steps. This, Amy soon discovered, was Mrs Wilcox, the housekeeper. She greeted her master and mistress politely, and then after helping old Mrs Forrester up the steps she beckoned Amy to follow her.

Amy’s heart was in her mouth. She felt totally out of her depth and was suddenly so nervous that she almost tripped as she hurried to do as she was told. Once inside the hallway, where the porter had deposited their luggage, Mrs Wilcox helped Mrs Forrester into the drawing room and Amy stood quietly taking in her surroundings. It was an extremely spacious hallway with a beautifully carved balustrade stairway leading up to the first floor. From the ceiling was suspended a beautiful chandelier, and on the wall above a highly polished hall table hung an enormous gilt-framed mirror.

She had no more time to gaze at her surroundings, for just then, Josephine Forrester entered, closely followed by her husband who was carrying two of her large valises, one in either hand. At almost the same time, another doorway opened at the far end of the hall and a young maid, whom Amy judged to be about her own age, appeared.

She smiled widely at the sight of her master and mistress and Mrs Forrester beckoned her over. ‘Nancy,’ she smiled, ‘this is Miss Ernshaw, the young lady I informed you would be staying with us. Have you prepared a room for her?’

‘Oh yes, ma’am, I ’ave.’ Nancy bobbed her knee as Mrs Forrester nodded her approval.

‘Excellent. Then may I ask you to show Miss Ernshaw to her room?’

‘O’ course, ma’am.’

Nancy turned to Amy with a timid smile as Mrs Forrester told her gently, ‘Go along with Nancy, dear. She’ll show you where everything is and then you can tidy up and have a short rest before dinner. I’m sure you must be tired after your journey.’

Amy nodded obediently, though in truth she was far too excited to be feeling tired. As they mounted the stairs, Amy noticed that Nancy’s uniform was identical to the one that Lily wore, and she guessed that Nancy was probably therefore the parlourmaid here.

Nancy led her up three steep flights of stairs and Amy noticed that the higher they climbed, the less elaborate the furnishings and carpets became, although everything was still spick and span. Once Nancy was quite sure that they were out of earshot of the mistress she grinned at Amy tentatively.

‘I’m afraid you’re up in the gods wiv me, miss.’

‘Oh please, Amy will do just fine,’ Amy told her quickly. ‘I’m simply a servant, the same as you.’

Nancy seemed to relax somewhat then as she led her along the final landing and pointed at a door. ‘That’s your room and this is mine ’ere. I ’ope I won’t disturb yer when I get up in the mornin’s.’

She threw open a door and Amy stepped past her into a surprisingly large room. ‘Oh, this is lovely!’ she exclaimed, crossing to a big brass bed as Nancy looked on and smiled.

‘Well, it ain’t as posh as the rest o’ the ’ouse downstairs, an’ it does yer in sometimes, climbin’ all them apples an’ pears, but I dare say yer’ll find it comfortable.’

Amy looked curiously around the room, but then more interested in Nancy for now she asked, ‘Are you the parlourmaid here?’

Nancy laughed merrily. ‘Nah. I’m more of a general dogsbody, to tell you the truth,’ she chuckled. ‘There’s only three staff ’ere an’ that’s Cook, Mrs Wilcox an’ meself, so I suppose yer could say I were sort o’ the laundrymaid, the parlourmaid an’ general maid all rolled into one – not that I’m complainin’.’ Her eyes were sparkling with mischief and Amy knew at once that she would like her. When Nancy then plonked herself down on to the quilted counterpane, Amy sat down beside her and began to undo the ribbons of her bonnet.

‘You ain’t exactly what I were expectin’,’ Nancy informed her cheekily. ‘I thought you’d be much older.’

Amy laughed. ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

Nancy quickly shook her head, setting her brown curls bobbing. ‘Oh no, I ain’t disappointed,’ she hastily assured her. ‘It will be nice to ’ave someone me own age about the place fer a change, especially now I know you ain’t all la di da.’ Then suddenly remembering the time she rose guiltily and scurried towards the door. ‘Good ’eavens! Mrs Wilcox will ’ave me guts fer garters if I don’t get a move on, but per’aps we’ll have time fer a proper natter later on, eh?’

‘Yes, I’d like that,’ Amy told her. ‘And by the way, don’t get worrying about disturbing me in the mornings. I’ll probably be awake anyway; I’m here to work too so I get up early myself.’

Nancy nodded and after flashing her a final friendly grin she disappeared through the door.

Amy now looked about the room that was to serve as her home for the next month. It was a nice room with a huge mahogany wardrobe standing against one wall. Next to that stood a matching chest-of-drawers and on the wall to one side of the door was a washstand with a pretty flowered jug and bowl and a small pile of fluffy towels folded neatly on top of it. Compared to the little shaky-down featherbed that Amy had at home, the brass bed appeared enormous, and she bounced gleefully up and down on the side of it until the springs squealed in protest. Smiling, she hopped off it and, crossing to the big window, she drew aside the cretonne curtains. The sight almost took her breath away, for she felt as if she was on top of the world. The rooftops of London stretched away before her, reflecting all the colours of the rainbow as the late-afternoon sun played upon them, and Amy tried to lock away every little detail of the wonderful sight in her memory.

By the time she went down to dinner later that evening she hadn’t managed to sleep so much as a wink although she had washed and tidied herself and put her clothes away. She dined in the kitchen with Mrs Wilcox, Nancy and the cook and they all went out of their way to make her feel welcome. Cook, who was a round ruddy-faced woman, wrapped in a voluminous snow-white apron, had roasted a joint of lean beef for the master and mistress, but for them she had baked a large steak and kidney pie. The pastry melted in Amy’s mouth. ‘It’s as tasty as my gran’s,’ she praised and from then on, in Cook’s eyes she could do no wrong. The main meal was followed by Cook’s special jam tart, which again was so delicious that Amy had a second helping.

‘Dear me, I shall be as fat as a pig by the time I go home,’ she complained as she rubbed her full stomach.

Cook beamed with delight. ‘There’s nowt wrong wi’ havin’ a good appetite,’ she assured her cheerily. ‘An’ nowt worse than seein’ someone pick at their food.’ She then went on to tell Amy that she too originated from Nuneaton and had worked at Forrester’s Folly until the master had offered her a full-time position here.

‘I nearly snapped his ’and off,’ she admitted with a grin. ‘I like London an’ I’m settled ’ere now.’

Much later, when Amy had helped Nancy to wash and dry the pots and put them all away, she was summoned to the drawing room, where the family had retired to, following their meal.

Old Mrs Forrester had gone to her bed, worn out after the long journey, but the master and mistress were enjoying a glass of sherry as Amy nervously entered.

‘So, my dear, has Cook fed you?’ Mr Forrester enquired kindly.

Amy began to relax a little as she answered, ‘Oh yes, sir. In fact, I don’t think I could manage another single mouthful. It was delicious.’

‘And your room – is it to your satisfaction? Have you everything you need?’

‘Yes, thank you. It’s lovely. In fact,
everything’s
lovely. I can hardly believe I’m really here.’

‘That’s excellent then. I just hope you will still feel as enthusiastic in a month’s time.’ He chuckled mischievously. ‘But I warn you – I intend to keep you very busy indeed, young lady.’

Josephine, who had been listening with amusement to this interchange, now patted the seat beside her. ‘Come and sit down, Amy, and tell me about some of the designs you have in mind,’ she invited.

Amy did just that and the next hour passed pleasantly as she eagerly told Mrs Forrester of some of her ideas. The woman listened with interest, and when Amy finally climbed the seemingly endless stairs to her room she was in a happy mood. Undressing and hanging up her clothes, she then took up a pen and paper and began to write her gran a letter, telling her of as many of the day’s events as she could remember. She could just imagine Toby reading it aloud to Molly in the cosy little kitchen at the cottage, and a wave of homesickness washed over her. It should be with them within a couple of days if it went on the mail train, but she would still be here, seemingly a million miles away. After putting it into one of the envelopes Josephine Forrester had thoughtfully provided, she addressed it neatly before curling up into a ball on the comfortable bed where Nancy found her almost half an hour later.

‘What’s up wiv you then?’ she demanded.

Amy sniffed tearfully. ‘I reckon I’m just missing my gran a bit,’ she confessed.

‘Well, I suppose that’s to be expected. I missed me ma an’ all when I first came ’ere but yer get used to it after a while.’ The other girl was wearing a long white cotton nightdress with a warm woollen shawl wrapped about her shoulders, and without waiting for an invitation she clambered on to the big brass bed and began to tell Amy about her family.

‘Me da’s a bit of a bugger,’ she began suppressing a giggle. ‘There ain’t a finer man walkin’ the earth when he’s sober, but by God, when he’s had a skinful, woe betide you. Not that he ever raised his hand to us or nuffink like that. He was just silly when he was in drink and couldn’t hold on to a penny piece.’

She frowned now at the memory before going on, ‘Me ma used to chase him about the kitchen wiv the rollin’-pin, which was no mean feat if yer try an’ imagine that we all lived in a cottage not much bigger than this room. Eight of us altogether there were. Me mum and dad, me, three sisters and two brothers. There used to be ten of us but me youngest brother and sister died from the sickness two years ago. Not that it was surprisin’, if you saw where we lived,’ she said sombrely. ‘There’s a ditch dug between the cottages where the sewage runs away, an’ some of the rats are that tame the cheeky bleeders don’t so much as blink even when yer try to shoo ’em off. When I came here it was the first time I’d ever got to sleep in a clean bed all to meself in me whole life.’

Nancy grinned apologetically. ‘Hark at me ramblin’ on, eh? I’d better get off an’ let yer get some rest. Yer must be weary after the long day you’ve had, an’ you’re out wiv the master tomorrow, ain’t yer?’

Amy nodded as Nancy slid from the bed before padding barefoot to the door.

‘Night, night, sleep tight,’ she whispered, and Amy smiled sleepily as the girl slipped out on to the landing and closed the door softly behind her.

Just as Nancy had said, it had been a very long day, so Amy quickly slipped between the cold cotton sheets of the bed. And there she lay in the darkness listening to the noises in the street outside. Everything felt so strange and she was convinced that she wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink, so it was a shock when her eyes flew open to find Nancy standing at the side of the bed with a steaming cup of tea in her hand. She was once again dressed in her maid’s outfit and she grinned as Amy’s tousled head appeared from beneath the warm blankets.

‘Come on, Sleepy’ead, rise and shine. It’s already ’alf past seven in the mornin’ an’ yer supposed to be meetin’ the master in the foyer at nine. If yer don’t get a shufty on you’ll not ’ave any time fer yer breakfast.’

Amy blinked as she knuckled the sleep from her eyes, for a moment forgetting where she was. Then she pulled herself up on to the pillow and gratefully took the cup that Nancy held out to her.

‘I must have slept like a log,’ she yawned as Nancy headed back towards the door.

‘Yer can say that again,’ Nancy agreed. ‘I reckon yer’d ’ave slept the clock round if I hadn’t woken yer. Still, there’s no harm done. Yer must ’ave needed it, so drink yer tea then come down to the kitchen. Cook’s got some breakfast all ready for yer.’

Once Nancy had left, Amy quickly drained her cup before scrambling out of bed and selecting a plain black skirt and a white high-necked cotton blouse from her meagre wardrobe. She then poured some water into the bowl and hastily washed and dressed. Finally she brushed her hair till it shone and tied it back with a fancy red ribbon that her gran had made with her own hands. Now she was ready to face the world but first she crossed to the window and drew aside the curtains. Although it was midsummer a thick smog hung in the air and Amy was amazed to find that she couldn’t even see the houses on the other side of the street.

She commented on it to Cook while she was tucking into freshly fried bacon and eggs, and the big woman laughed, setting her double chins wobbling.

‘Oh, you’ll soon get used to London,’ she assured her as she poured more tea into her cup. ‘Come mid-morning it will be as clear as a bell. It’s the winter smog you have to worry about. I’ll tell yer now, I’ve known it to be that thick yer can’t even see yer hand in front of yer, an’ that’s the ’onest truth.’

Amy shuddered at the thought but by nine o’clock she was standing in the hallway waiting for Mr Forrester, all ready to go. When he appeared minutes later from the dining room he smiled at her as he adjusted his hat in the hall mirror.

‘Did you have a good night’s sleep, my dear?’ he enquired pleasantly.

‘Yes sir, I did,’ Amy told him. ‘In fact, I think I’d still be in bed if Nancy hadn’t woken me.’

‘Good, good. Well then, it’s time we got down to business now. I’m going to take you to my shop here in Kensington today. I think you will find it very different to the shop we have back at home and I hope you will find it interesting.’