“All in good time,” Rafferty said. “But I think you underestimate Miss Georgiana.” He used her full name on purpose, but Bertha didn’t look appeased. “Give her the proper clothes and she’ll have young men at her feet.”
“I wish that were true. But it won’t do anyone any good if all she wants is you.”
“I told you, she’ll get over it.”
“Humph,” Bertha said, a wealth of meaning in that one word. “In the meantime, where did you get those two girls who showed up an hour ago, saying they were maids? The Mannings can’t even pay me, much less two able-bodied young women.”
“You let me worry about that,” he said. “I trust you put them to work?”
“Of course I did. Even if they’re only here for a day, they can make a difference in this wreck of a house.”
“They’re here for as long as you want them.”
“But the money...”
They were interrupted by a rap on the kitchen door, and a moment later, Mr. Jenkins himself was there, directing his men to carry in the loads of meat and eggs that Rafferty had ordered. Bertha took it all in, along with Jenkins’s ingratiating manner, and said not a word till they were alone once more, and then she turned on Rafferty.
“Just who the hell are you?”
Georgie hadn’t planned on running smack into her sister as she emerged from the servant’s staircase, and she tried to duck back in before it was too late, but Norah’s beautiful purple eyes had already narrowed in on her.
“Been consorting with the servants again, George?” she demanded archly.
Georgie controlled her temper. “I was helping my protégé.”
“Your what?” Norah’s voice rose. “Good God, George, does Father know about this?”
“Of course he does. And he approved. Rafferty shaved him this morning.”
“Rafferty?”
“Pay attention, Norah,” she said impatiently. “Rafferty’s our new butler, and he’s my protégé, just like Mother has.”
“It better not be just like Mother has,” Norah said obscurely, “or your protégé will be back out on the street in no time. Come to think of it, a strange man did enter my bedroom this morning, but I’d forgotten. So, we have a butler again? Thank God for that!”
“Thank me for that,” Georgie said. “I found him.”
“What do you mean, you found him?”
“Don’t you remember? He was the Dregs of Society. I decided to reform him and make him our butler. He doesn’t even want any money for doing it. Or, at least, he may want it, but he knows he’s not going to get it and he’s willing to be our butler anyway.”
“You’re out of your mind!” Norah snapped. “That man assaulted me! God knows what he’ll do to the household if he’s given free rein.”
“He’s going to run the household, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” she said defiantly.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Norah snapped. She raised her voice to an unpleasant shriek. “Mother! Father!”
“Oh, bugger off,” Georgie said unwisely, stomping to her bedroom door and slamming it shut in her sister’s face. It wasn’t, perhaps, the most felicitous of phrases—she’d picked it up on the streets, but it had a satisfyingly vulgar sound, and she’d been looking for a chance to use it. Her sister deserved it.
They’d never been close, but at least when they lived in the countryside Norah hadn’t been so determinedly mean. Georgie tried to be generous—Norah was unhappy and her sour outlook on life touched everyone but her army of would-be suitors. Georgie did her best to shrug it off—at least it was nothing personal. Everyone suffered from Norah’s lash of a tongue.
She threw herself into the first chair she found. Stomping had not been a smart idea in these boots, and her feet were burning with so much pain that she had trouble unlacing them, her hands shaking with the effort. Once completely unlaced she tried to pull off the shoe, but it clung tightly to her foot, and she leaned back with a cry of frustration. Her feet had fit into the boots with only a little bit of effort—they must have swollen while she wore them. She could do nothing but listen as her sister and mother squawked in the hallway and her father’s deep bellow joined in. She had the truly awful feeling that they were going to try to take Rafferty away from her, and she couldn’t let them do that. Neither could she fight for him, at least not until she could pry the boots off her feet, and she didn’t dare admit she’d worn them again. Her mother had tried to throw them out, her father would feel bad, and everything would be in an even greater uproar than it already was.
Her door slammed open, and she closed her eyes for a moment as her family crowded into her bedroom, the three of them talking at once. She let it go on for a bit, then finally raised her voice.
“Stop it!”
Needless to say it didn’t quiet her voluble family for even a moment. “Norah says you’ve brought a beggar into the house and set him up as our butler!” her mother declaimed. Liliane Manning had a decided affection for drama.
