“I plan to clean the dining room. Top to bottom just like I did my room.”
“Are you sure you are strong enough?”
“I may need to sit down and rest a minute more than I like but, yes, I am strong enough. It will probably take me all day though.”
“I will polish the floor for you.”
“Thank you.” Emily grinned. “I was hoping you would offer.” She laughed when Mrs. O’Neal gave her a light slap on the arm. “The floor in my room looks wonderful and I have no idea how you got it to look that way.”
“Just let me know when you are ready for it. Best we shift some of the furniture first.”
Emily wiped her hands and followed Mrs. O’Neal into the dining room. One look was enough to tell her they would need to call the men in to move a few things but the two of them took everything else to the parlor. With much complaining about why they had to do this, the men came in and moved the two largest pieces and set them in the hall.
“The room is far larger than I thought,” Emily murmured as she looked over the empty room.
“I can help whenever you need it. Just need to make a lunch and prepare the supper.”
“Then I had best get started.”
She bent down to roll up the carpets and Mrs. O’Neal helped. Then they carried them out to the porch, flipped them over the rail, and Mrs. O’Neal got her rug beater and started to work. Emily went back into the kitchen, got a mop and a bucket of light soapy water, and went to wash down the walls. She hoped she had more strength than she had had the last time she cleaned because this room would not allow her many rests if she was to be done by the end of the day.
She looked around after she had finished washing the walls. “This is going to look magnificent.”
“Huh. I would never have guessed the walls had gotten so dirty. We shall have to have a meal in here when it is not a holiday.”
Emily looked at Mrs. O’Neal. “You only use it on holidays?”
The woman shrugged. “We don’t have dinner parties. So, carpets clean, walls clean, and I have some time before starting the midday meal. What next?”
“The windows.”
Both women looked at the windows and groaned.
* * *
By the time the men had arrived for supper, they were ready for them to put the furniture back. Emily noticed some frowns as they looked over the room while bringing in the furniture. She found she was nervous about their opinion. Mrs. O’Neal’s frown deepened as they did their work and said not a word.
It was not until they were all seated for the evening meal in the kitchen that Iain said, “So we arenae allowed to eat in the room now?”
Emily laughed when Mrs. O’Neal cursed and tossed a napkin at him. “We are eating here because the room needs airing or one ends up tasting the smells of window cleaner, polish, and the like. Everything in there, even the walls, was cleaned and that can make a smell hard to breathe in.”
“It looks nearly as new as when we built it,” said Robbie.
“That it does,” agreed Lachlan. “Even the carpets.”
“Nice as it is, the question is—why?” asked Iain.
“It is what we used to do at home before winter,” said Emily. “It makes everything all fresh so when you close up the house it is nicer.” She placed the potatoes on the table and then took her seat next to Neddy. “Then one sometimes does some of the same things in the spring. Clean off the smell of fires going for days.” Emily looked up to find even Mrs. O’Neal staring at her and just shrugged.
“Ye had servants to clean for you,” said Iain.
Emily heard no real anger in his voice so she just shrugged again. “I do not think that room has been scrubbed down since you built it. It won’t need such a hard clean for a long time.”
Iain looked at Matthew and then each of his other brothers and nodded. “Just how many rooms do ye intend to do that with?”
“All of them. One a day.”
“Weel, ye will tell us when ye plan to do it to any of our rooms.”
