Page 12 of To Serve a Laird
“Right, are ye sure ye can manage?” the housekeeper asked.
“I will do my best,” Claire replied.
Agnes shook her head angrily. “Well, fae what I can see, your best isnae very good, so make sure ye dae better than that.”
With that, she turned and stalked away.
Claire sighed and rubbed her eyes, which were still gritty from lack of sleep. However, she knew that she would persevere and do this loathsome task if it killed her, since it was simply not in her nature to give up. She dropped to her hands and knees, then took out the scrubbing brush and looked at it. She had used it before and her arm was still in pain, but she resolved to do the task as well as she was able.
Accordingly, she bent to her work and was soon applying as much pressure as she could to the wooden beams of the floor. Yet as hard as she tried, she could not shift the stubborn dirtthat remained there. It was completely ingrained, driven into the fibres of the wood by thousands of footsteps over years of use.
Claire sat back on her haunches to relieve the ache in her shoulders and back, and it was just at that moment that Agnes decided to enter and do an inspection.
As soon as she saw Claire’s efforts, she let out a grunt of displeasure. “My god, can ye no’ dae anythin’ right?” she demanded.
She shook her head in despair as she looked at the pool of filthy water that had collected around the bucket Claire was using.
“Let me show ye,” she got down on her hands and knees and began to scrub with such force that Claire thought the bristles of the brush might break.
She began to imitate Agnes, despite the pain in her shoulder, back and arm, but Agnes was still not satisfied. She clicked her tongue.
“Does naebody ever tell you Sassenachs how tae clean a house? Are ye a’ completely ignorant?”
Claire shook her head, wiping sweat from her brow. “I lost my mother in childbirth when my sisters and I were very young. She saw to it that there was always someone to do this for us.”
“Ye never had tae clean a house before?” Agnes asked.
“No,” Claire replied. “But I am trying to learn. As you say, I am quite bad at it, but I am determined to get better.”
All of a sudden, Agnes’s expression changed, and she looked at Claire in a new light. The young woman whom she had thought was acting in a superior manner because she was English was the same as all the rest of the women. In fact, she might have suffered more than anyone else.
Agnes knew what it was like to lose a mother—the same thing had happened to her, but she had her own children to look after,people to live for. This girl was young enough to be her child, and suddenly, she reconsidered her tone.
“Wait here a minute,” she said, standing up. “I will be right back.”
Claire stood up and stretched her back and shoulders. She was tempted to sit down, but she did not want to push her luck. Agnes’s good mood might not last very long!
A moment later, a man came into the room. He was in his middle years, of medium height, with dark hair that was streaked with grey. He was dressed well, clearly not a servant, and there was an air of good humour and kindness about him. Claire liked him at once.
She curtsied. “Good day, sir,” she said politely.
“Are you Miss Claire Tewsbury?” he asked.
“I am,” she replied.
“I am Dougal McMahon,” he told her. “A friend of the Laird’s.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir.” Claire dropped her gaze, unable to think of anything else to say.
“Agnes tells me you are English,” he observed, then he laughed. “She is a very tough nut to crack, but she is not as hard as she seems.”
Claire nodded. “Yes, sir, I am English—for my sins,” she replied. “They are not fond of me because of that and because I am eighteen years old, and I have never cleaned a floor in my life.”
Dougal laughed. “Hopefully all the battles between our nations are behind us,” he said gently. “Tell me, Claire, have you ever been presented at court?”
Claire’s eyes widened at the strange question. Being presented at the royal palace in London where the monarch lived was an enormous privilege, one that had been given to her when their family was still wealthy.
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “I have been fortunate enough.”
