It was a strange feeling, walking along the shore at Lissadell again, and coming around the bend and seeing the Big House between the trees. Only a week had passed since my first day, but already everything was different. I knew which gate to walk through and where to find the servants’ tunnel. I knew exactly how Lady Mary liked her towels folded. I knew my place at the big servants’ table and I knew not to pull out my chair until Butler Kilgallon and Mrs Bailey were seated. It’s funny how easily you get used to new things
* * *
Morning came much too quickly. I’d been dreaming I was at home, cuddled up in bed, telling stories to Winnie and Anne, looking forward to a day at school. I wasn’t happy when Nellie shook my arm and I remembered I was at Lissadell, and my school-days were over.
The morning passed quickly, and after lunch, Mrs Bailey told me to dust and sweep the big staircase. Nellie and I and the other servants always used the back stairs, so I’d never gone up the main one, which was very fancy. The steps were made of black stone that was polished so much I could nearly see my face in it. The pillars were decorated with swirls and flowers, and halfway up each one was a lovely golden bird with its wings spread out. It was so beautiful! I wished I was good at drawing so I could do a picture to show to my mam – she loves pretty things – and doesn’t have many of them in her life.
I dusted everything very carefully and then I went back to the top of the stairs and began to sweep. I was walking backwards, sweeping slowly and being careful not to raise up all the dust, as Mrs Bailey had warned me – and then I bumped into someone! I guessed it was probably Nellie coming to see if I was doing my job properly. I was ready for her to shout at me, and tell me how useless I was, when I heard a soft voice. When I turned around and saw a lady, I nearly collapsed on the spot.
‘Oh, Madam, Miss, My Lady, I’m ever so sorry,’ I said. ‘I was concentrating on the sweeping and I wasn’t looking and I should have been looking and it’s all my fault, and did I hurt you, and …?’
I stopped talking. Too late, I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to say a word to the family unless they spoke to me first.
Would I lose my job for this?
Would I have to go home to Mam and tell her that my big mouth had got me into trouble again?
Would I get sent to some horrible house where the servants got beaten and were half-starved?
But the woman was smiling. ‘You can call me Lady Mary,’ she said, in her beautiful voice. ‘You must be the new housemaid – Lily, isn’t it?’
I nodded as I squashed myself up against the wall and tried to look small. If I could, I would have disappeared altogether.
‘It’s nice to meet you, Lily,’ she said. ‘I hope everyone is treating you well?’
I nodded again.
‘That’s good. I hope you will be very happy here,’ she said, and then she walked on up the stairs. My heart was thumping so hard I felt it was going to jump right out of my chest and go bouncing all the way down the shiny stone steps. A few minutes later, all that remained was the smell of Lady Mary’s perfume, and I wondered if she’d been a vision rather than a real person.
Over the next few weeks, I saw Lady Mary twice again, and she smiled at me, but she never said another word. Once I saw Sir Josslyn, but he didn’t look in my direction, and I don’t think he even noticed that I was there, scrubbing his rug on his landing in his house on this huge big estate. Every now and then I saw the little ones with Isabelle or one of the other nurses. The babies looked so sweet, all dressed up in satin and lace, and seeing them made me miss my own dear sisters. It seemed strange though – all of us, family and servants, were living in the same house, breathing the same air, but we were always apart. It reminded me of the farm near our village, where the sheep and the pigs were kept in separate fields, with a thick stone wall between them. Sometimes it didn’t make any sense to me at all.
* * *
One morning I went into a small room off the kitchen and saw Harry, one of the footmen ironing the newspapers. I leaned across to read the headlines and he smiled. ‘Don’t bother looking, Lily,’ he said. ‘The world is changing, but not fast enough for me. The papers always have the same old news.’
‘So what news is there today?’
‘The Lockout’s still going on, I’m afraid.’
‘I’ve heard people talking about the Lockout,’ I said. ‘But I don’t really understand what it is. Could you tell me who has been locked out – and why?’
Most of the senior servants still scared me, and I’d never dare to ask them anything. Harry was nice, though, and I knew he wouldn’t laugh at me.
‘It’s been going on since August,’ he said. ‘The big employers locked out all the workers who wouldn’t resign from their union, and now there’s thousands out of work.’
‘That’s terrible.’
‘You can say that again. We’re lucky down here in the country, but there’s people in Dublin who are nearly starved to death – even little children.’
‘And isn’t anyone doing anything to help them?’
Harry looked over his shoulder, and when he spoke again, it was almost in a whisper.
‘The Countess has done a lot to help.’
‘How?’
‘I could tell you a hundred good things she’s done, but I’ve got work to do. Sir Josslyn will be waiting for these newspapers.’
‘Please,’ I said. ‘Just tell me a few things about her. No one around here ever wants to talk about the Countess – and that makes her seem so mysterious and interesting.’
‘She’s an interesting woman, all right. Lately she’s been selling her jewellery to raise money for people who are hungry. And she’s helped to set up a soup kitchen, so the children will have something warm in their bellies. I hear she goes down to the basement of Liberty Hall herself, puts a sack over her fine dress to protect it, and peels potatoes with the other women.’
‘She sounds like a very kind lady to me,’ I said. ‘Sir Josslyn and Lady Mary should be proud of her.’
He smiled. ‘Maybe they are – in their own way. Thing is, some people think the Countess isn’t very ladylike – what she does embarrasses them. It’s not what they expect from a woman of her station.’
‘What do they expect of a woman like her? Why can’t she––?’
I was enjoying the conversation, and trying to make it go on longer, but Harry interrupted me.
‘Got to go,’ he said. ‘These papers should have been in the breakfast room ten minutes ago.’
I watched as he took the papers and ran up the back stairs. I gave a big sigh. Countess Markievicz! When was I going to see this exotic lady?
* * *
Soon every working day began to feel like the one before. Isabelle said there were fifty-eight fireplaces in Lissadell, and some days it felt as if I had cleaned and lit every one ten times over. I couldn’t count how many ornaments I had dusted or floors I had swept.
Most of the rooms downstairs had shelves full of books. At first I used to hope that maybe Lady Mary would let me take one to my room so I could read at night, but soon I realised that was a foolish thought. When bedtime came, I was always half-dead from tiredness, and I only had time for a quick prayer in my head before falling fast asleep.
Nellie and I spent most of every day together and she was nearly always grumpy and mean. Her rare smiles were like treats, that vanished before I had time to enjoy them properly.
I’d spend days looking forward to my day off, and then it would come and be over in a flash, and I’d have six more long days of work ahead of me.
I had a warm bed and plenty to eat, but I was often sad. I was often lonely.
I never had any fun.
And then one day something strange happened.