“The room is arranged?”
“Yes, of course Madam.”
“And Kate has prepared Jethro´s favorite food?” Aethel Reddington asked nervously, and she ran back and forth in front of the sofa.
“That goes without saying,” Bennett replied with a signified movement of his head. He suppressed the revealing twitch of the corners of his mouth.
“Aethel, your running to and fro drives me crazy. Sit down after all! It is our grandson who will arrive tomorrow and not the Queen that will honor us with her visit,” Charles Reddington sighed with an annoyed expression.
“But…”, Mrs. Reddington began to object, but she didn’t come far.
“There aren’t any buts, Aethel, don’t drive me over the edge!” her husband interrupted her, with charm and in a friendly voice though.
In an unladylike manner, the woman slumped into an armchair, and with a loud sigh she volunteered her opinion.
“Thank you Bennett, I believe you can withdraw for the rest of the day,” Mr. Reddington pointed out.
Bennett True indicated a bow, and he was just in the train of leaving the room, when he heard Charles Reddington saying quietly, “I request you with all of my heart, Aethel, don´t be so overly excited about Jethro’s visit. Although he is our grandson, he stood in front of our door only, when he needed money in recent years.”
Bennett merely perceived the helpless sigh of the woman, when he silently closed the door behind him. Charles Reddington’s words left behind a weird feeling in his stomach. He ran his fingers through his black hair, as if he could push away his emerging thoughts that way.
Although he started his new employment no longer than two months ago, he liked the Reddingtons very much.
He disliked the thought that maybe someone would come in order to fleece the two of them.
While he was walking up the stairs to his room, he silently grunted and admonished himself that it wasn’t of his concern, because he was nothing else but the new butler at this house. As soon as he had reached the rooms he lived in, he gradually began stripping off his suit and hung it neatly on the clothes valet in the corner.
His employment with the Reddingtons had been a wonderful piece of luck. He had spent the last ten of his thirty years of age in London, where he had worked as a butler for a wealthy broker and his family. In those days, they gave him a chance, because despite of the fact that he had finished his training with flying colors, it wasn’t easy at all to get a job as a classical house servant at the age of twenty.
But then, Mr. White received an offer, and he decided to immigrate together with his family to America. They offered him to accompany them, but for Bennett , the mental image of turning his back on England, was simply impossible. He was British to the core. Even though the Whites had grown dear to his heart, a change of the continent was out of the question for him. He was lucky that the Reddingtons had contacted the agency he had enrolled in.
Bennett turned on the water of the shower with a grin, and he stepped below the hot jet. He remembered that Aethel had curiously smiled at him, when she had met him and explained that he certainly would be faster, because of his youth, than their old Butler Philipp who would finally retire at the age of seventy-five.
Charles Reddington was well pleased with him, because Bennett had refused to immigrate to America.
Philipp had broken him in for two weeks. Subsequently, he informed the Reddingtons that he would be suitable for this kind of work, and thereupon his future was sealed at this stately home on the outskirts of London.
He really could be quite content with his new employers. The pay wasn’t as much as it used to be when he had worked for the Whites, but instead of this, he didn’t have to grapple with the children anymore who had tried his patience numerous times.
Bennett laughed quietly. He turned off the faucet and grinned. As soon as the twins of the Whites had learnt to walk and to understand the world to some degree, their sole mission in life was to annoy the butler. They played white pranks he had to laugh at more than just once, but the peace he experienced with the Reddingtons was a blessing after all.
Both marriage partners were beyond seventy, and in comparison to the chaos he had had to bring under control at the house of the Whites, his life at this place was nothing else but a stroll. He was rarely confronted with surprises, and the Reddingtons’ way of life was as structured as a train that runs on its rails.
Mr. Reddington was rather modest. Most of his time, he spent in the small garden that was adjacent to the house.
From time to time, Aethel called on his services when she needed a chauffeur who would bring her from one game of bridge to another, or when she wanted to be actively engaged in her benevolent society. His tasks were assessable, and he really liked this job. Besides him, the Reddingtons had another employee, Kate. She was responsible for the kitchen and the household of the couple. She was a friendly woman who had just turned fifty.
Charles and Aethel had two children: Margret Reddington had immigrated together with her husband to Australia. A circumstance Charles still couldn’t accept. Their joint son, Jonathan Reddington, had stayed in England and founded a family. But his fate hadn’t treated him nicely, because six years ago, he had died in a car accident.
He was survived by a widow whose name Bennett didn’t know and by the grandson of the Reddingtons, Jethro.
Bennett’s gaze darkened a bit, when he put on his pajama. He hoped that Charles was wrong with his assumption, and that this family member wouldn’t arrive for the purpose of taking them both to the cleaners.