Page 21 of Tempting the Earl
She found Belle, the personal lady’s maid for Lady Fitzgerald and her daughter, down in the kitchens getting to know the Rosemount staff. “Good morning, I am Miss Spencer,” Emily greeted the young servant. “I wanted to enquire if your mistresses need anything this morning. We weren’t able to meet them last night with your late arrival, and I’m not sure how long they’ll be sleeping today. Do you know if they’ve made any special requests?”
“Oh, thank you, Miss! My lady sez she don’t want to be disturbed ‘til she rings. But the miss is up and dressed. She’s too shy to come down without her mama,” answered Belle.
“Thank you, Belle, I’ll go up to her room and meet her. Maybe she’d like to break her fast with the young Waddell ladies.”
“Thanks, Miss, she’d like that,” answered the young maid politely.
Emily smiled at the assembled staff then hurried from the kitchens to climb up to the guest wing. She scratched quietly on Miss Julia’s door, not wanting to disturb if she were indisposed. The prettiest young woman Emily had ever seen whisked the door open. She wasn’t your typical beauty, but she had large sparkling eyes and shiny black curls with the biggest smile to grace such a tiny face. “Hello,” she greeted in a soft, musical voice.
“Good morning, I am Miss Emily Spencer. You must be Miss Julia Fitzgerald. Welcome to Rosemount. I am so sorry no one of the family was up to greet you and your family upon your arrival last night.”
“That’s perfectly fine, we were unavoidably detained. It would have been dreadful if we had kept someone up waiting for us. As it was, the poor old butler was awakened on our account. Mama said it’s his duty, but he’s an old man, I felt badly.”
“That is very generous of you, Miss Fitzgerald. Have you had your breakfast yet? Would you like me to send for something from the kitchen, or would you like to join some of the other guests in the breakfast room?”
“Oh thank you, Miss Spencer! I’m actually near to perishing, but I wasn’t sure if it would be acceptable to start wandering around by myself. I would like to join the others if that’s alright,” requested Julia sweetly.
“Excellent, I will show you the way.” The two young women were making their way down the hall as Emily told Julia who else was staying in the big house and which rooms were whose, when they heard a shriek coming from what Emily was sure was Lady Maude’s room. Miss Julia turned her large eyes upon Emily in a startled fashion, clearly unsure what was the proper behaviour in such a circumstance. Knowing Julia was uncomfortable wandering the big house by herself, Emily hesitated to leave her but knew she must check what was going on behind that door. With regret she turned to Julia and said:
“Please go ahead without me, Miss Fitzgerald, I’ll make sure everything is fine here. When you get to the bottom of the stairs, there’ll be a footman who can direct you. Lady Clara and the Waddell ladies are there already, they’ll make you welcome.” Emily dismissed the young woman kindly and turned to the door.
There was now the sound of weeping coming from the room and Emily hesitated to get involved. But someone needed her help in there, so she knocked lightly on the door, unsure of what she’d find on the other side when it opened. Lady Maude herself pulled the door open briskly and stood there quivering in indignation.
“We’ll need the services of a couple of servants in here, if you please. I shall be downstairs breaking my fast. I want this mess cleaned up by the time I’m finished,” Lady Maude declared haughtily before sweeping regally past Emily and proceeding down the hallway with her nose elevated and her back ramrod straight.
Briefly stunned by surprise, Emily watched her walk down the hall to the grand staircase before stepping into the room to see what had taken place. She was shocked to see water and broken glass seemingly everywhere. Strewn about, too was a mountain of clothing interspersed with the glass and water. She helped Lady Maude’s quivering maid, Peggy, step gingerly over the broken shards and sent her down to the kitchens for tea after she rang for some maids to help set order to the chaos in the room.
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“What could Lord Philip be thinking? Surely Lady Clara is mistaken. There is no way an intelligent man like my lord could be so taken in by this horrendous shrew of a woman.” Emily was talking to herself as she helped two of the maids clean up the broken glass in Lady Maude’s room. “There must be some mistake.”
“’Tis hard to believe the lady would throw a glass and pitcher at her own maid, ain’t it, Miss?” asked Maggie innocently.
“Well, Maggie, I would have never believed it before now, however I have had the misfortune of meeting the lady myself, and I am finding it quite a bit easier to believe,” replied Emily in a still shocked tone of voice. “Can the two of you finish up in here? I am going to speak to Peggy and make sure she wasn’t injured in the fray. Thank you for helping with the clean up. I know the two of you already have plenty to do without anything extra like this added.”
“That’s awright, lass, we can handle it from here.”
Emily left the two girls and went down to the kitchens in search of Lady Maude’s maid. “There you are, Peggy, how are you? Did you get hurt at all?”
“Oh Miss, it weren’t nothing. I’m used to much worse with that one. I shoulda know’d she was a bit miffy from the ride here yesterday. Never shoulda spilled nothing,” answered Peggy good-naturedly.
“Well, if you’re sure you’re fine, I will go attend to other matters.” Emily was surprised at the maid’s calmness over what she would’ve considered a disaster were she in Peggy’s shoes. But seeing that she truly was all right, Emily was happy to leave the kitchen and have a moment of quiet to herself before she went in search of Lady Clara to ensure everything was going smoothly with her.
This is going to be a long week, Emily thought to herself as she checked for flyaway hairs and straightened her gown before plastering on a smile and entering the drawing room where some of the guests were currently assembled.
Lady Clara was already showing signs of strain, but her face lit up when she saw that Emily had entered the room and was approaching her. “I was beginning to wonder what had happened to you,” she whispered to Emily.
“I’ll tell you what happened later. It was quite dreadful, but everything is sorted out now. Has everything been proceeding smoothly here?” queried Emily softly.
“Not exactly,” was the terse reply.
Emily looked around and took a quick head count. The gentlemen were nowhere to be seen, some guests had yet to arrive, and Lord Philip was still not there. Emily was secretly becoming very worried about him. Considering that he had asked his mother to arrange this event, Emily had really expected him to be early rather than late. And the ladies currently occupying the drawing room did not look happy. Emily knew she had to do something to create a better atmosphere. With a mental effort she forced herself to wipe all unpleasant feelings from her face and plastered a pleasant smile in place, dredging up a cheerful voice.
“Shall we try some activities? We could go for a walk out of doors; the Rosemount gardens are renowned for their beauty. Or if anyone is up to more vigorous activities, there are various sports to be enjoyed on the grounds.”
The sweet younger women, Jane, Ann, and Julia, turned to Emily simultaneously, all three eager and ready to be amused. Miss Waddell was the first to respond. “Oh, yes, I have heard so much about the rose gardens here, I would love to see them. I personally don’t feel up to anything vigorous after the long journey yesterday. Let’s save that for tomorrow.” The other girls voiced their agreement and got up to join Emily by the door.
“Wouldn’t you like to join us, Lady Maude? It’s a beautiful day, we should take advantage of it, don’t you think?” Despite misgivings about her, Emily tried to be pleasant to the seemingly cold-hearted girl.Surely there must be a heart under all that ice,she thought. After all, she had seemed almost warm last evening when the young lords were around. Maybe she just didn’t like women.Well that was just tough, Emily continued in her mind, she was displaying extremely bad manners and Emily had been taught her entire life that members of the nobility were always polite.I guess there are a few exceptions to that rule, she thought. They still awaited Lady Maude’s response.
