A week after William Thornbury arrived back in Hull with his wife and stepson, Mary tapped on the sitting room door where Mrs Thornbury was arranging her own ornaments on the shelves and side tables and placing her predecessor’s treasures in boxes ready for storage in the loft. Mary had been helping her but had been called away to answer the door.
‘Begging your pardon, ma’am, there’s a young woman at ’door asking if there are any positions vacant or likely to be in ’near future.’
‘Good heavens. So soon? Has she come in answer to the advertisement?’
‘I didn’t enquire, ma’am, but I wouldn’t have thought so. I only took it into ’newspaper office yesterday.’
‘Well, how has she found out?’
‘News travels fast in this town, ma’am.’
Mrs Thornbury humphed and huffed. ‘Well, I don’t think I’m quite ready to interview anyone just yet. Tell her to come back next week.’
‘She seems very presentable, ma’am,’ Mary offered. ‘And young. Not got into any set ways yet, I wouldn’t think.’
Mrs Thornbury glanced at her. ‘What are you saying?’
‘Just that she might easily find another position, ma’am.’
‘Oh, I see. Very well; send her in and I’ll talk to her.’
Mary went out and then came back again. ‘Mrs Thornbury will see you now,’ she said in a carrying voice, adding in a lower tone, ‘Mind your p’s and q’s,’ as Ada knocked and went in.
Nora Thornbury sat down in a chair at the side of the fireplace. There was no fire burning but a vase with palm fronds was set in the centre of the hearth.
‘Name?’ she said without preamble.
‘Ada Morris, ma’am.’ Ada dipped her knee as Mary had instructed her.
‘Age?’
‘Fourteen, ma’am. Last week,’ she added.
‘Previous employment?’
‘None. Onny at home. My mother said she’d teach me everything I needed to know before sending me out to work for somebody else. But I already know about housework and can do a bit of cooking, and I help out with me brothers and sisters as well.’
‘Do you? How old are they?’
‘Eldest under me, our Bob, is nearly twelve, then ten, eight, six and ’youngest is nearly three.’
Mrs Thornbury gave a shudder. ‘You must be pleased to be leaving home?’
‘Oh, no, ma’am, they’re all well behaved; my ma wouldn’t have it any other way.’
‘I see. Why did you think there might be a vacancy here? You can’t have seen it in the newspaper?’
‘We don’t see ’newspaper until it’s at least a week old, ma’am, but I’d heard about ’nice doctor and his poor wife and of ’little girl left an orphan an’ I just kept me eyes and ears open in case there was another family coming.’ She heaved a breath. ‘And then I rang ’doorbell on ’off chance.’
‘Well, that was very perceptive of you,’ Mrs Thornbury acknowledged. ‘It shows that you can act on your own initiative which is good, but I must tell you that I would expect you to comply fully with my orders. I know how I want things done and to the letter. Do you understand?’
‘Oh, yes, ma’am.’ Ada nodded. ‘My mother said exactly ’same thing and that I might stand a chance with being young and untrained and ready to be melded to someone else’s ways.’
‘Your mother sounds like a very sensible woman.’
‘She is. Brought us all up to be polite and – and industrious,’ she added as an afterthought.
Mrs Thornbury thought of the rest of the boxes that needed unpacking and the contents arranging to replace those that were going up in the loft and knew that Mary couldn’t deal with all that and look after Lucy as was expected of her. And she was also preparing food until a cook was hired. She thought that perhaps another housemaid might eventually be needed as well as a cook, for it was a much bigger house than she had expected, but if she took this girl at least it would be a start.
‘Very well. I need a general maid and you seem presentable,’ she said, echoing Mary’s words. ‘I’ll give you a month’s trial and if you prove to be suitable I’ll take you on. Six pounds a year all found.’
Ada’s expression dropped. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘I’m real sorry, ma’am, but I’d get more than that if I worked in one of ’mills and they’re known to be miserly.’ She buttoned up her coat. ‘I couldn’t work for less than six pounds ten shillings; all found,’ she added. ‘I have to give money to my ma, you see.’
Nora Thornbury had thought that she could get away with giving less to a Hull servant than she had to her London housemaid, but it seemed she was wrong.
‘But surely you wouldn’t want to work in a mill when you can work in pleasant surroundings in an establishment like this? With food and a uniform provided!’
‘It probably sounds like a lot o’ money, ma’am,’ Ada explained. ‘But when my ma needs help to buy food and clothing for five other bairns, six pounds doesn’t go very far, especially when me father’s off sick. So, I’m sorry. I really would have liked to work here,’ she added regretfully. She pressed her lips together and nodded her head. ‘Never mind, eh.’
‘Well, wait a minute.’ Mrs Thornbury pondered. A bird in the hand, she thought; she’s very neat and seems intelligent, and who knows who might turn up after the advertisement has been displayed; it might be someone totally unsuitable. ‘If I agree to give you six pounds ten shillings—’
‘All found,’ Ada said quickly, in case she’d forgotten.
Nora sighed. ‘All found. With that salary I would expect you to be on your toes at all times!’
‘Oh, yes, ma’am.’ Ada unconsciously stretched herself up on tiptoe. ‘It goes without saying I’ll always do my best.’
Nora rose regally from her chair to indicate the interview was over. ‘Very well, that’s agreed then. I’d like you to start tomorrow.’
‘Not tomorrow ma’am,’ Ada said. ‘Tomorrow I’ll help my mother clean ’house and wash ’sheets so that my brother can tek my bed, then pack my things to bring wi’ me. I’ll come ’day after,’ she said. ‘That’ll be Sat’day.’
Nora gave in. She had never been very good with servants. Perhaps because her own mother had never had anyone but a daily maid who, if she thought fit to turn up, did her regular chores in a morning and then left after eating a midday meal which she seemed to expect as her right. ‘Saturday morning then,’ she agreed. ‘Eight o’clock sharp.’
‘Bloomin’ old skinflint,’ Ada muttered as Mary let her out of the outer door. ‘Talk about getting blood from a stone.’
Mary put her hand to her mouth to hide a grin. She’d been listening from the hall. ‘And what’s this about your da being off sick?’
Ada rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, yeh! He had a sudden bout of idle-itis.’ She laughed. ‘He’ll mek a good recovery, don’t you worry! See you on Sat’day. Thanks, Aunt Mary. I’m going to enjoy working here.’
One day during the following week Lucy slipped into the sitting room and with her hands folded in front of her sat quietly watching her aunt pack the last of her mother’s possessions into a box. There were wax flowers in a domed glass container, a pair of cut glass celery vases, two crystal decanters which her aunt put aside, two photographs in silver frames that went into the box and various pieces of silverware that Nora held up for inspection before looking about the room as if deciding whether or not to place them somewhere. It was as she was doing this that her eyes fell on Lucy.
‘Good heavens,’ she exclaimed. ‘You startled me, Lucy. How long have you been sitting there?’
Lucy knew the numbers on the clock but hadn’t yet mastered the art of telling the time, nor could she judge the length of its passing. She looked up at her aunt from dark eyes and shook her head. ‘I don’t know, Aunt Nora. Can I help you? Those are Mama’s things.’
‘I know they are,’ her aunt agreed. ‘I’m packing them away so that they don’t get broken, and when you’re a grown-up young lady you’ll be able to open the boxes for yourself and put them wherever you want.’
‘In this house?’ Lucy asked.
‘Yes, if you are still living here, which I expect you will be.’
‘I asked Oswald if he would play a game with me, but he won’t.’
‘Well, he’s older than you, Lucy, I expect that’s why. He’s seven already.’
‘I’m nearly four,’ Lucy told her. ‘I’ll be having a birthday soon, won’t I? Will he play with me then?’
Her aunt sighed. She was no better with children than she was with servants, not even her own son; William said he thought she had spoiled Oswald, and she thought she probably had, but excused herself by saying she was trying to make up for his not remembering his father. Even though very young, Oswald hadn’t taken to William and he’d kicked up a fuss when they’d moved into his house after their marriage.
‘Oswald will be going to school in September,’ she said, ‘so he won’t have much time for playing. He’ll have his lessons to learn.’
‘So can Ada play with me?’
Nora pressed the bell on the wall. ‘I’ll ask her,’ she said, ‘but you really must learn to entertain yourself when grown-ups are busy.’
It was Mary who answered the bell. She smiled at Lucy and looked enquiringly at her mistress. ‘Yes, ma’am?’
‘Can we spare Ada to look after Miss Lucy? I think she’s bored.’
‘She’s up in ’loft moving ’boxes, Mrs Thornbury,’ Mary said. She looked at the little girl sitting so forlornly. ‘Could Miss Lucy come into ’kitchen wi’ me and Cook? We’re baking some little cakes,’ she added, for Lucy’s benefit more than Mrs Thornbury’s, and the child’s eyes lit up.
‘Oh, yes, of course she can,’ Nora said with some relief. ‘Would you like that, Lucy?’
‘Yes, please.’ Lucy slid down from the chair and put her hand into Mary’s. ‘I’ll make a cake for Uncle William’s supper.’
Nora had given Ada precise instructions on what was expected of her. She would be the only maid living in after Mary left. Ada would rise at six o’clock in the morning and her first job was to see to the fires. She would riddle and relight the kitchen range so that the oven would be hot when the new cook arrived at seven, and then clear and clean the sitting room and dining room hearths and lay them for lighting later. Then she would prepare the table for Mr Thornbury’s breakfast: porridge and toast that Cook would have ready for him when he came downstairs at seven thirty.
After he had left for the bank Ada would prepare the table again for the mistress and the children. Whilst they were eating she would make the beds and dust and tidy the rooms, and after they finished she would wash the dishes and prepare the vegetables for luncheon before beginning any other jobs that the mistress required. Once a week she would polish the brass, including the knocker and the bell on the front door.
‘I’ll see how it goes,’ Ada told her aunt Mary. ‘If I’m to be general maid, I’ll need somebody under me to fetch and carry, chop wood and carry coal. I can’t be expected to do all that myself, or who’s going to mek ’beds and do ’dusting an’ that?’
‘I’ve allus had an undermaid,’ Mary agreed. ‘But mebbe they can’t afford anybody else.’
‘Well, ’mistress will have to shift herself,’ Ada muttered, ‘and do some of ’jobs herself.’ She pondered for a minute, scratching her chin. ‘Do you think they’d run to paying a lad for filling ’coal hods and chopping wood for ’fires, cos I could get our Bob to do that. He’d even clean an’ polish Mr Thornbury’s shoes.’
‘Hmm,’ Mary said. ‘I’ll mention it when ’master’s at home. He’ll look after ’finances, I expect.’
A few days later Mary presented herself to Mr and Mrs Thornbury as she was clearing their supper tray in the sitting room. It was always something very simple: cheese or cold meat and pickles and a small helping of bread and butter and perhaps a slice of cake or biscuits with a pot of tea or cocoa.
‘I thought I might comment on how Ada and the new cook are managing their duties, as I shall be leaving you at ’end of next week.’
‘Will you?’ Mr Thornbury seemed surprised. ‘Of course!’ he exclaimed after a moment. ‘You are to be married. Oh, my word. You will be sorely missed, and particularly by my niece. I do believe Lucy has come to rely on you absolutely.’
‘She has, sir, but she likes Ada and Ada is very good wi’ children, so I think Miss Lucy will come to terms with me not being here. I’ve told her that I’m leaving and she’s asked if she can come to our wedding.’
‘Well, and indeed why not?’ He glanced at his wife. ‘Someone would accompany her, wouldn’t they?’
Nora drew herself up, her back rigid. ‘I’m not sure if—’
Mary interrupted before Mrs Thornbury could make any objections. ‘Ada said she’d bring her if you wouldn’t object, ma’am. Miss Lucy has already chosen what she’d wear if she’s allowed to come and it would be such a treat for her, poor little mite.’
‘I quite agree,’ William Thornbury boomed. ‘She’s had her fair share of sorrow at such a young age; a wedding would cheer her up immensely.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Mary bobbed her knee. ‘And if I might just mention, to get back to Ada and her duties, I wonder if it would be possible to hire a young lad to chop wood and fill ’coal hods and buckets? There’s quite a lot for Ada to do, especially if she’s to look after Miss Lucy as well as fulfil her other duties; if there was a lad to do ’heavier work and even ’jobs like cleaning shoes and boots and sweeping ’front of house and back yard, it would save her having to do it.’
‘Has she complained?’ Nora asked.
‘No, never, ma’am. But she’s a good worker and it would be a shame to lose her if she should decide in say a twelvemonth or so to better herself.’
Nora frowned. ‘How much extra help did you have when you worked for Dr Thornbury?’
‘Allus a boot boy, ma’am, and a scullery maid as well as a live-in cook.’
‘We don’t need a live-in cook,’ William told his wife. ‘My brother and Alice entertained quite frequently, much more than we are likely to.’
Mary nodded in agreement. She recalled with pleasure the merry times the doctor and his wife had when entertaining friends to dinner.
‘But,’ William went on, ‘I quite agree we should have a lad to help out for a few mornings a week at least. We can’t have that slip of a girl carrying buckets of coal or wielding an axe; oh dear no! Do you know of someone, Mary?’ he asked.
‘Ada’s brother is of an age to be looking for work, and she’d make sure he was up to scratch and came in on time.’
‘Well, there we are then. Ask her if she can arrange it. Every morning. A shilling a week, would that be about right?’
‘I’ll tell her, sir.’ Mary bobbed her knee again. ‘Thank you.’