After breakfast, Mrs Bailey gave me the nice easy job of tidying Lady Mary’s dressing table. Lady Mary had so many pots of creams and powders – no wonder she had such soft, perfect skin. My poor mam’s face was always red and sore looking, and she never owned as much as one pot of cream to make it better. Maybe I could buy her some when I got my wages.
Just as I was straightening up Lady Mary’s silver hairbrush and comb, Maeve came and found me. She looked beautiful with a fur-trimmed cloak over her elegant green striped dress.
‘No painting today, I’m afraid, Lily,’ she said.
‘Oh,’ I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. I had been looking forward to sitting in Maeve’s lovely bedroom and chatting – and scrubbing the dining room floor wasn’t going to be much of a consolation.
‘I don’t know when we will be able to paint again. Gaga and I are going to stay with some of her ancient old cousins in Galway. We’ll be gone for ages and ages, and it’s going to be so boring.’
I tried not to smile. I wouldn’t mind being a visitor in some fine house. As far as I could see, being bored had to be better than working all day long.
‘We’ll do more painting when I get back, all right?’
I nodded. Maeve was the one actually doing the painting, while all I had to do was sit still and look like myself, but I realised that the whole thing meant more to me than it did to her. She had a busy life of travel and hobbies, schoolwork and parties, and my life was … well it was nothing like that.
* * *
Next day, Lady Mary came in while I was sweeping the drawing room. I moved to the side and looked down at a rug, as if it were the most beautiful rug ever made.
‘Ah, Lily,’ she said. ‘As you know, Christmas is coming.’
Of course I knew Christmas was coming, but I wasn’t looking forward to it like I used to. At home, Mam always found time to knit a present for each of us. It was usually something useful like new socks, or a warm vest, but she could make it special by adding in some brightly coloured wool or even a scrap of ribbon. No matter how bad things were, Mam always managed to get a chicken for our dinner on Christmas day, and after we’d eaten, we’d go to a neighbour’s house and sing songs and tell stories till well after our usual bedtimes.
Already Maggie had told me about Christmas in Lissadell, and it didn’t sound like much fun for the servants. There were many visitors, some of whom stayed for a week or longer – and more visitors meant more work for us.
Lady Mary hadn’t asked a question, but she seemed to be waiting for me to say something.
‘Yes, Lady Mary,’ I said, with my eyes still fixed on the rug. ‘Christmas will be nice.’
‘This year I plan to buy a little something for all of the servants, so I was wondering what you would like?’
Was I hearing right?
Was she offering to buy me a present?
‘I … I …’
‘Don’t be so shy. I’m sure there is something you would like, so tell me what it is and I will do my best to get it for you.’
Now I could hardly breathe. There were so many things I would like, but how could I pick one?
If I chose something too big, would Lady Mary think me impossibly greedy and end up buying me nothing at all?
If I chose something small, would I feel cheated when I saw the presents the other servants asked for? Mam always says I shouldn’t compare myself to other people, but how would I feel if everyone else got something better than me?
And then the words popped out. ‘I’d … if it’s not too much to ask … I’d very much like a doll.’
‘A doll?’
Lady Mary didn’t sound cross, so I continued. ‘Yes, if you wouldn’t mind, I would love a doll of my own. I’ve never had one before, and if I got one, I would love it, and on my days off I could bring it home and let my little sisters play with it, but I would tell them to be very careful, and …’
‘Of course you shall have a doll. Is there any particular type of doll you would like?’
I remembered the beautiful doll I had seen in the nursery. ‘I’d be happy with any kind at all,’ I said. ‘But if I could get a doll with curly hair, and a satin dress with lace on it, I think I might be the happiest girl in all of Sligo.’
Lady Mary laughed. ‘I think that could be arranged,’ she said. Then she took a tiny notebook and pencil from her pocket, and I watched as she wrote Lily, and next to it the beautiful words – doll, curly hair, satin dress.
I felt like jumping up and down for joy, but was afraid that might spoil everything, so I had to be content with a little skip, as I got back to my sweeping.