“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.” Henni curtsied.
And that was how Henni, the lowest scullery maid in the Hofburg Palace, was unexpectedly elevated to become a personal chambermaid of the Archduke Leopold.
At least that was one positive thing to have happened that morning, Pippa thought darkly.
Chapter Sixteen
The problemwith archdukes was that one was not allowed to talk back at them. Servants weren’t allowed to speak with them at all.
That was Pippa’s biggest trial. Klemens knew it and exploited the situation mercilessly.
It wasn’t even evening yet, and Pippa was exhausted.
More than exhausted.
She’d spent the entire day dusting, cleaning, polishing, fetching, running errands, and generally being at the Archduke’s beck and call.
He’d positioned himself in an armchair in the middle of the sitting room and pointed with his walking stick at what she had to clean.
“There’s a speck of dust.” He pointed with his stick at an imaginary fluff of dust on the dresser. “Clean it.”
When she did, he’d insist that she’d missed a part and had to redo everything over again, including waxing the entire dresser with lemon oil.
“There is a fingerprint on the mirror; polish it.” He pointed at the mirror over the dresser. She polished it.
“Is that what you call cleaning?” He pointed at a nonexistent speck. “Do it again.”
She gritted her teeth and mentally recounted the Fibonacci numbers to keep herself from snapping back.
He made her re-polish an entire cabinet of crystal glasses and goblets, wash all the windows twice, sweep the floors, wipe off all the furniture—without as much as a sound of complaint.
She’d rattled off the squares table five times in the meantime.
Klemens sat in an armchair, reading the paper, as he supervised her cleaning.
“Polish the chandelier now.” He turned the page without looking up.
Pippa looked at him, aghast. The chandelier! It was a massive, opulent monster hanging from the ceiling of the drawing room, consisting of finely cut glass prisms and dangling crystals. A quick estimate made her conclude that the number of crystal pieces must be around two-hundred.
It was lowered once a day for the candles to be lit, and it took three servants to clean the wretched thing. For that purpose, it needed to be disassembled, then after cleaning, correctly reassembled, like an elaborate puzzle designed by a madman. Even if one disregarded the intensive effort it would take to lower and disassemble it, the cleaning alone would devour an entire day. One had to dip each crystal piece carefully into hot water, scrape off the wax remnants with infinitepatience, remove the grime and tarnishing with soap, and then dry each piece before reassembling the entire thing. Since it was such a time-intensive and elaborate activity, the cleaning of the chandeliers was usually done when the imperial family was not in residence and had moved to the summer palace Schönbrunn over the summer months.
Not to mention that it was madness for a single person to even attempt.
She wrung her hands in her apron.
Klemens looked up from his newspaper and lifted an eyebrow. “Well?”
“The chandelier needs to be lowered before it can be cleaned. I need the help of two others to lower it.” She paused, then added hastily, “Your Imperial Highness.”
A small frown between his brows expressed his disappointment at her insistence on maintaining the protocol.
“You are a resourceful young woman, are you not? Anna Braun.” There was a devilish glint in his eyes. “I’m certain you can manage to accomplish the feat without lowering the entire contraption. Alone.”
Pippa’s throat felt suddenly dry. “Very well, Your Imp-ish Highness.” She coughed.
Klemens’ head snapped up. “What did you just say?”
“Your ImPERial Highness.” She made sure to over-enunciate each letter.
