Murder and Mittens

Chapter 3 – Jen in the Attic

  Jen woke with a start. There had a loud bang and pain and then blackness in her dream. She struggled to remember what the dream had been about but failed. Then she heard a tap at the door. She opened her eyes and sat up. Where was she? It was a small room with a sloping roof and whitewashed walls. There was a small rag rug on the wooden plank floor that had gaps between them. A large jug and ewer sat on a green tiled washstand. Then she looked down at herself. What was she wearing? It was a white long sleeved nighty that buttoned up to the neck. Jen had nothing like it in her possession, she normally slept in a long t-shirt.

  The tap came again, more forcefully this time. Jen stared at the door. A third, louder tap, then the door opened and a young girl put her head round.

  ‘Excuse me, Miss, but I’ve brought your breakfast. Sorry about knocking so hard but Mrs. Wagstaff told me to be sure and wake you up so that you got your breakfast in good time before your lady, Miss Ashcroft.”

  Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed the door open with her hip and carried the tray in. A cup and saucer, a sugar bowl and a plate with a small metal salver were on it. The girl was wearing a maid’s uniform and cap. She placed the tray carefully on the small chest of drawers next to Jen’s bed. She looked expectantly at Jen so Jen took the cup and saucer and tried the tea. It was reasonably hot and very strong, she tried not to wince.

  ‘Very nice,’ she lied.

  The girl brightened. ‘I’m glad you like it, Miss. My name is Lily, Lily Perkins. I’m the Second House Maid. Kate, the First House Maid, has got Miss Tyneham. Mrs. Wagstaff’s assigned me to look after you while you’re here. You know, bring you breakfast; bring up your hot water. Oh, that reminds me, I’d better go and get it while you have your toast.’

  She darted out of the room without giving Jen a chance to reply.

  Jen drank about half the cup and then lifted the metal salver off the plate. Two rounds of buttered toast nestled underneath it. Jen found she was quite hungry so ate both of them. By the time, she had finished the second one, Lily had returned, panting a little. She was carrying a metal container.

  ‘Your hot water,’ she announced.

  ‘Couldn’t I just use the bathroom? Jen asked.

  Lily looked embarrassed. ‘You must be used to those fancy new houses in London. I’ve heard about them. We don’t have a bathroom for staff. You’ll have to make do with a wash here. But I’ll bring you up some nice hot water every day.’

  So the jug and ewer were not just ornamental.

  ‘That’s fine,’ Jen said. ‘Just leave by the washstand, would you?’

  ‘Of course, Miss.’

  Lily plonked the container down with a bang.

  ‘And after you’ve got dressed,’ she hesitated and then went on in a rush, ‘would you like me to show you down to the kitchen? And I could show you where her bedroom is after you’ve got her breakfast ready, if you like?’

  Jen smiled at her enthusiasm. ‘That would be very nice, Lily.’

  ‘I’ll pop back up in about ten minutes. Mrs. Wagstaff won’t mind if I explain.’

  ‘What time is it, Lily?’ Jen asked.

  ‘It’s seven o’clock, Miss.’

  ‘What!’

  Lily trembled. ‘Like I said, Mrs. Wagstaff told me to wake you at seven so you could get ready in good time before going to see to your lady.’ She looked pleadingly at Jen.

  ‘It’s all right, Lily, I’m not cross with you,’ Jen said gently.

  ‘Do you normally get up later in town, Miss? We keep early hours in the country.’

  ‘Yes, I normally get up later, well at weekends, anyway.’

  ‘I’d love to hear about life in London sometime. I’d like to be a lady’s maid one time, better than being a housemaid, I bet. But here I am rattling on, Mrs. Wagstaff says I never stop talking and I’ll never be a lady’s maid if I don’t learn to hold my tongue.’

  Mrs. Wagstaff might have a point.

  ‘Yes, you’d better get on and come back in quarter of an hour,’ Jen said firmly.

  ‘Right you are, Miss.’ Lily departed.

  Jen got up and had a wash. She wondered what to do with the used water in the ewer but then decided that it was probably Lily’s job to worry about that and if it was still there later, she would deal with it. She took off the floor length nighty, very Victorian and put it on the bed. Then she rummaged in the bedside chest of drawers and found some underwear. Granny knickers and a very plain, bra that stretched to halfway down her rib cage. And stockings and garters! She hardly ever wore stockings now. There were no tights to be seen so she accepted her fate and put the stockings and garters on. The material was dense and quite rough. Jen just hoped that they wouldn’t rub her.

  There were several black dresses and one brown and pink print one hanging on hooks above a wooden chest. She reached for the print dress but her hands moved on further on to one of the black dresses and took it off the hook. She got the strong impression that she had to wear the black one. Well, things like that happened in dreams. There was a snowy white frilly apron underneath the dress that she reluctantly put on as well as a pair of white elasticated cuffs she saw lying on top of the chest of drawers. But she baulked at the white cardboard cap. She was not going to wear that. There was a pair of flat, black lace up shoes and an old fashioned looking black handbag under the bed. She scooped the shoes up and sat on the bed to put them on.

  Then she thought about the handbag, got down on her knees and dragged it out. She opened the clasp and looked inside. It was much tidier than her own handbag, partly because there was much less stuff in it. She pulled out a battered looking large purse and opened that. There was some old money in it. Jen picked up a three-penny piece and marvelled at it, turning it in her fingers. Then she explored the rest of the purse. She came across a business card. It said,

  ‘The Chesterton Agency,

  Private Investigators

  Discreet enquiries undertaken’

  A tap on the door again, it was Lily. Jen hastily put the card back in the purse, the purse in the handbag and stowed it again under the bed. Lily came in and picked up the ewer.

  ‘I’ll have to come back for the can,’ she said.

  Jen picked the can up. ‘I can carry that, no sense you coming up again.’

  Jen followed Lily along the narrow, uncarpeted corridor and they started down the first two flights of narrow, uncarpeted stairs, Lily walking slowly and carefully carrying the big bowl.

  Jen realised that Lily had had to bring her breakfast tray and can of hot water all the way up these flights of stairs.

  ‘Lets swap,’ she suggested, ‘that ewer must be heavy. Let me carry it.’

  Jen couldn’t see Lily but she heard the surprise and shock in her voice.

  ‘I couldn’t let you do that, Miss, that wouldn’t be right.’

  ‘It’s not right a slip of a girl like you having to carry such heavy bowls.’

  ‘I can manage. I do it every day.’

  ‘Even so, tomorrow, I carry the ewer and you carry the can,’ Jen said firmly.

  They went down several more flights of equally uncarpeted and narrow stairs before they reached the kitchen.

  There were several people in the huge kitchen all bustling about. Jen immediately noticed two middle-aged women; she would have bet good money that they were the cook and the housekeeper. One was tall and thin, she looked as if she didn’t smile much. The other was a shorter, plump woman with curly brown hair and small brown eyes. Jen would have bet good money she knew which was the cook and which one was the housekeeper.

  The second one spoke, ‘good morning, Miss James. Welcome to Wilkington Hall. I am Mrs. Wagstaff, the Housekeeper. How are you today?’

  ‘Very well, thank you,’ Jen murmured. So, she would have made a terrible gambler.

  ‘I’m Mrs. Butler, the Cook,’ the other woman said. ‘Pleased to meet you, Miss James.’

  Jen repressed a chuckle at Mrs. Butler t
he Cook but couldn’t stop smiling a little. It sounded like a card from Happy Families.

  Mrs. Wagstaff spoke to Lily. ‘Very kind of you to show Miss James the way, Lily, but you must attend to the ground floor, now. On your way.’

  ‘Lily did offer to show me the way to Miss.’ Jen suddenly couldn’t remember what her mistress was called, she amended it to, ‘my lady’s room.’

  ‘I’m sure, she did. No, I will show you the way. Dismissed, Lily.’

  Lily looked crestfallen but left.

  The housekeeper turned to Miss James, ‘a good girl but a terrible talker, I warn you, Miss James. I can never decide if she just loves talking or she’s spinning it out to avoid work.’

  ‘The second,’ Mrs Butler said. ‘Well, you’ll be wanting to get your lady’s breakfast ready, no doubt, Miss James. Gladys, the kitchen maid will help you. What does your lady usually have for breakfast?’

  Muesli and yoghurt, Jen wanted to say but instead she came out with, ‘toast and jam, please.’

  ‘And to drink?’

  ‘Tea.’

  ‘Good. I don’t hold with this new fangled drinking coffee first thing in the morning. Just because the Americans do it.’

  ‘Now, now, Mrs. Butler,’ Mrs. Wagstaff said mildly, ‘we have to make allowances for our guests.’

  Mrs. Butler did not look pleased at this comment and Jen reminded herself not to get in the middle of their feud. But, of course, this was just a dream and she would wake up any time soon.

  A short, portly man strode into the kitchen.

  ‘Ah, Mrs. Butler, has Martin gone up with the breakfast tray for Mr. Taylor?’

  ‘Yes, Mr. Cook. He went up half an hour ago.’

  Jen struggled again not to laugh when she heard that the butler was called Mr. Cook.

  ‘So we should be expecting Mr. Taylor down anytime now.’

  As he spoke, a tall, well built man with thick black hair and heavy eyebrows stepped quietly into the kitchen and stood, towering behind him.

  ‘Good morning,’ he said.

  Mr Cook jumped and then recovered his composure.

  ‘Mr Taylor, good morning. I trust your breakfast was satisfactory?’

  No one had asked her if her breakfast was satisfactory, Jen noted.

  ‘Most satisfactory, thank you.’

  ‘Good, good, please ask Mrs. Butler, our cook, for anything you need.’

  ‘My master, Mr. Wainwright usually has a cup of tea before he gets up.’

  ‘I’m sure Mrs. Butler will be able to help you.’

  ‘Mr Cook, Gladys, the kitchen maid will be able to help Mr. Taylor,’ she corrected rather frostily. ‘After she has finished helping Miss James who was down first.’ She nodded at Jen.

  Jen tried not to show annoyance at the embarrassment of being used as a weapon in a war that she wanted nothing to do with.

  Mr. Taylor simply said, ‘but of course,’ and defused the hostile situation.

  ‘Gladys!’ Mrs. Butler called.

  A plump, fair- haired girl turned round at the end of the kitchen where she had been busy with the range.

  ‘Yes, Mrs. Butler?’

  ‘Make a pot of fresh tea for Miss James and then for Mr. Taylor.’

  The senior servants moved away and Jen murmured to Mr. Taylor, ‘sorry about that.’

  ‘Not at all,’ he said, ‘she was quite right, you were down first.’ He smiled slightly at her and Jen thought how much better looking he was when he smiled. His face was rather severe otherwise.

  When the tea and toast was ready on a tray, Jen took it and carried it up the stairs, following Mrs. Wagstaff. She was relieved to discover that Miss Ashcroft’s room was not as high up as the servants’ quarters. She wondered who Miss Ashcroft was.

  Mrs. Wagstaff stopped outside a door, three doors along from the staircase.

  ‘This is Miss Ashcroft’s room. I trust you will be able to find it in future?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Jen who had no idea if she could or not.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it then.’

  Mrs. Wagstaff glided away and Jen opened the door, rather precariously balancing the tray with one hand.