Her Ladyship's Girl Read Free Page A

move. I washed in tepid water again and went downstairs to start the new day. I was hungry after cleaning and lighting the
stove, so I pinched an egg and boiled it and ate it with a cup of tea, before anyone else got out of bed. After doing all the early routine jobs and not seeing a soul, I came back down to the
kitchen to help with the breakfasts and I could hear Cook questioning the two kitchen maids about the missing egg. I just kept my head down and stayed out of the way until the dragon went to her
lair.
    ‘What’s all the fuss about, Nora?’
    ‘She’s missing an egg.’
    ‘What? All that
trafferthu
1 over an egg?’
    ‘It’s one less she’ll be able to steal.’
    Nora told me that Cook had a coat with deep inside pockets on both sides and every evening she stuffed them with food before going home. She said Cook came from a dodgy London family who were
mixed up with toughs and criminal types and it would be dangerous for anyone to dob her in.
    After breakfast, I made sure I red-polished the front step before scrubbing the hall floor – it was long and wide and tiled black and white and, while I was doing it, I noticed someone
standing over me. I looked up and saw this well-dressed woman of about thirty-five or so. She was small and nervous-looking and wearing clothes that I’d only seen in magazines.
    ‘And what’s your name?’
    ‘Anwyn, Madam.’
    She gave me a funny kind of look, like she wasn’t sure if I was really a girl, or some nanny goat that had wandered in from the garden. Then she nodded and walked away.
    I got on with my scrubbing.
    Back downstairs, I put the copper on and made sure not to overfill it this time. Biddy came over to me.
    ‘Listen, anything you want to half-inch, do it before Cook makes her count.’
    ‘When does she do that?’
    ‘Just before she goes home.’
    I had my toast and another cup of tea before tackling the rest of the day. There seemed to be even more washing today than yesterday and, even with the wooden dolly, my hands were hurting from
the hot steam. Cook came over to me with a frown on her face like a wet Sunday in Llandudno.
    ‘When you’re asked, your name is Moyle, not Anwyn.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because skivvies like you don’t have first names.’
    I was going to tell her I was just as good as she was but then, I was in a strange city, and she might get her dodgy relations to come round and garrotte me with piano wire in the middle of the
dark and desperate night.
    I decided to keep my eye out for Cook and keep out of her way as much as possible for as long as I was to be the lowest of the lowly in that house.
    Later in the day I noticed she was soaking a big boiling ham in vinegar, so I asked Nora what she was up to.
    ‘Apart from when there’s a party, she buys meat that’s on the turn cheap in the market, then she washes it in vinegar to take the smell out.’
    ‘Why don’t she buy fresh meat?’
    ‘God, you are naive, aren’t you, Annie!’
    Nora laughed. I’d have to be careful what I ate – if the others didn’t touch it, then neither would I. I was skinny enough as it was, but I thought to myself I’d fade
away to a farthing here. But I didn’t want to get sick because I’d been sick before and it wasn’t something I wanted to go through again and, as much as I hated the job, I
didn’t want to be sacked and sent back home, humiliated. I was surprised them upstairs didn’t all die from galloping gut-rot, but maybe the rich had better constitutions than the
poor.
    Cook had all sorts of tricks for fiddling the people she worked for, but it was none of my business and I’d only get shot by a soldier of Diamond Jack Sloane or some other gangster if I
didn’t keep my nose out. So I did.
    Once the washing was on, I helped prepare the vegetables and then it was on to the ironing. My mother’s iron at home had to be heated on the fire and it had to be just right – if it
was too hot, it would burn through the covering cloth