In the drawing room, Betty was clearing up the mess her mistress had made the day before. Two crystal decanters had been smashed across the floor along with a number of very valuable ornaments. The port and the sherry that the decanters had contained was splashed up the furniture and all across the expensive Turkish carpets and Betty doubted she would ever be able to get the stains out of them, although she knew better than to voice her thoughts. As far as she was concerned, it was high time someone put the mistress across their lap and gave her arse a good whippin’ an’ all – that was if anyone could fit her across their lap. She stifled a smile at the thought, but even so she was appalled at such disrespect for such beautiful things. She was sure some of the lovely figurines and items of cut glass that the woman had wantonly smashed would have cost a king’s ransom. It just went to show how little regard the mistress had for anything and had she been asked, Betty would have admitted that she wouldn’t miss her in the slightest!

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

‘She got off all right, then?’ Cook asked as Bill entered the kitchen later that day after delivering the mistress to the train station.

Bill nodded. ‘Yes, she did and I can’t say I’m sorry to see the back of her,’ he confessed. Although he hadn’t worked there long, he had quickly reached the conclusion that the mistress had been spoilt rotten.

‘Good!’ It seemed that none of them were going to miss her although they were all wondering how the master would react when he got home to find her gone.

‘How is Ruby today?’ he asked as Cook popped a rich fruit cake into the oven.

She smiled. ‘Getting better by the day, although it’ll take some time for the leg to set.’ She placed a scone fresh from the oven in front of him and he took it gratefully. He had never eaten so well as he had since coming to work here and it was all thanks to Ruby for putting in a good word for him.

‘So how long do you think it will be before she’s well enough to come downstairs for a while? She must get lonely stuck up there on her own.’

‘I dare say the doctor will tell us, although you’ll probably have to carry her down for a while,’ Cook warned him. ‘And as for bein’ lonely, I’ve told her to make the best of the rest. Lord knows what will happen to her when she’s fully recovered. Now Miranda an’ the missus have gone I can’t see the master keepin’ her on.’