Page 4 of The Sisters of Sea View
Their mother’s brow puckered. “Would you let your father’s room as well? To strangers?”
“Yes, Mamma. It has no view, but it is one of the largest. I will clean out the few things he left up there and pack them carefully away. Remember, he slept there for only a few months during our first stay here.”
Mamma sighed. “I suppose you are right.”
“What about me?” Georgiana asked. “Where would I sleep?”
“Perhaps you might share with me,” Sarah offered.
Georgiana’s usually sunny expression clouded. “But I adore having a room of my own.”
“I am sorry. It cannot be helped.”
The fifteen-year-old considered. “Might I at least move into one of the empty rooms in the attic?”
“The attic?” Mamma’s brow furrowed. “That is where the servants slept.”
Sarah soothed, “I don’t see why not. Only Jessie sleeps up therenow.” Their cook and manservant had rooms belowstairs near the kitchen.
“Oh, very well,” Mamma agreed.
Georgie’s smile returned.
Sarah added, “And I will have to ask each of you to either help with the guests or earn income some other way, so we can afford to hire someone else.”
“I will help,” Georgiana agreed. “I can make beds and such.”
“Good. Viola?”
She shook her head, freckled face tight. “Absolutely not. Georgie might think it’s diverting to act the part of a housemaid, but I do not. I am a gentleman’s daughter. It is beneath my dignity.”
Secretly, Sarah knew she wasn’t wholly wrong.
“You heard Sarah,” Emily said. “We all have to do our part.”
Mamma frowned in thought. “I could ... do some mending. Perhaps make some new table linens? I detest this infernal weakness. I wish there was more I could do.”
Viola lifted her stubborn chin. “If I must work like a drudge, I will remain in the background. I shan’t interact with guests.”
Emily snorted. “What—are you going to help Mrs. Besley peel potatoes and wash dishes? Or will you do the laundry?”
Viola shuddered.
Their mother raised a staying palm. “None of my daughters is going to work as a laundress! We can at least send out the laundry.”
“Every chore we hire out means spending more of our limited funds,” Sarah reminded them. “Funds we’ll need for the butcher, greengrocer, and chandler, not to mention wages and taxes.”
“But certainly we must draw the line at laundry. We have no mangle. And all those sheets and towels!”
Miss Stirling spoke up. “I send out our laundry. It’s quite reasonable. I know the very person.”
“Very well. Thank you.”
“And what will you do, Emily?” Viola challenged. “Empty chamber pots?”
Sarah hurried to stave off more arguments. “Thankfully, we have the new water closet, and there is still the privy in the back garden, although it could use some work.”
“I know the very person for that task too,” Miss Stirling said.
