Mistress of the House Read Free Page A

tomorrow, Miss Giles. I thought if we started on Monday, it would give you time to get acquainted with the village.”
    “Oh, but I’m quite ready to start. I can see the village at the weekend,” said Laurie. “I’d rather start right away, if you’d like me to.”
    Mr. Humphries, who wanted nothing so much as to get going on his work, immediately arranged to start the next morning, and went back to his car. Mrs. Lorney led Laurie out into the kitchen, Max saying that he would be out in five minutes.
    “What a lovely kitchen,” said Laurie impulsively.
    “You like it? It’s comfortable. We use it as a living room most of the time. But I expect, if you come from Town, it seems very old-fashioned to you.”
    “I come from London. I expect you wouldn’t think our kitchen a kitchen at all. It’s not much more than a cupboard really.”
    “Sit down there, will you, Miss Giles, and I’ll give you a cup of tea while we wait for the others. We usually have tea at this time, but it isn’t a big meal, because we have our supper between seven and half-past. That’s when Max and Roger are through with their work.”
    Laurie sat at the table and sipped her tea. Mrs. Lorney sat where she could conveniently bob up and down between the table and the oven and the door into the scullery. Laurie looked to her right, through a large window, on to the farmyard. She could see the wide strip of grass between the house and the chestnut fencing, the dusty farm lane, more fencing bordering its farther side, and then the field where the poultry were kept. Next to the poultry field and ending the lane, were the barns and outbuildings, the stack yard, the bull sheds, and the pigsties farthest from the house. Laurie did not know what all these things were, but she enjoyed the pattern that they made, and liked the tidiness and compactness of the whole.
    “I hope,” she said to Mrs. Lorney, “that it didn’t put you out too much, having me here. Mr. Humphries explained that you came to his rescue; but I daresay I shall be able to find something in the village if I’m in the way.”
    “There’s no hurry. It’s a long way into the village every day, unless you have a bicycle or car. I don’t think it will put us out at all.”
    The door opened, and Max came in. Laurie looked at him brightly, prepared to smile, but he did not look at her. He closed the door behind him, and crossed the room to his usual seat at the table. Laurie realized, with a shock of surprise, that he was lame, and immediately looked away from him, out of the large window. What a pity, she thought, such a fine, tall man, and so good looking. His mother gave him some tea.
    They started their tea, Laurie answering the polite enquiries about her journey, while she wondered if Jess were the wife of Max. She glanced out of the window and saw a tall girl of about her own age crossing the lane with a bucket in each hand. She wore fawn breeches and a yellow jersey with a high collar. Her brown hair was blown by the wind and shining in the pale sunlight, but her face was set in somewhat sulky lines. Laurie wondered if this was Jess, if this was the wife of this nice-looking man at the table; and she had not long to wonder for the door opened and Jess came in. She had left her buckets in the shed, and without stopping to look at the party having tea, she went straight in to the scullery to wash her hands. When she reappeared, her hair was tidy, and she crossed to the table.
    “Jess,” said Max, “this is Miss Giles. Miss Giles, my sister.”
    The two looked at each other. Laurie’s face broke into a friendly, attractive smile.
    “How do you do?” she said.
    Jessica did not smile. She nodded tersely and sat down in her chair. Laurie looked at her in surprise for a moment, and then glanced from her to Mrs. Lorney and Max.
    She saw that Max frowned a little, and that Mrs. Lorney was not pleased, but she did not think much about the incident. Perhaps Jess was tired after