The room was still warm from the huge log fire that they had lit earlier and fed with more fuel throughout the meal. The silver baubles on the Christmas tree sparkled in the flickering firelight and beneath the tree, the unwrapped presents lay abandoned. Kate thought for a moment of her own family and what they would be doing now. A sliver of pale light peeked between the heavy, velvet drapes and shone upon the silver salver in the centre of the damask covered table. A few scattered crumbs betrayed the speed with which Mrs B’s mince pieshad disappeared into the sweet-toothed mouths of the Winton children.
‘Just look at this lot.’ Eliza sighed. ‘Looks like I’m in for another bad case of dish pan hands. Mrs B makes me have the water so hot! It might leave a sparkle on the crystal but it ruins my lily-white hands. I’ll just have to wear the best kid gloves to cover them, won’t I, dearest?’ she added, flipping both her wrists towards Kate. They both laughed. Eliza then turned her attentions to the bottle of unfinished wine on the table. Picking it up, she held it towards Kate. ‘Here, ever tasted claret? Take a swig,’ she said.
Kate shook her head, she’d never tasted wine before. ‘I don’t think . . .’
‘Just a little taste. It’s Christmas after all,’ Eliza said. ‘They won’t miss it.’
She swilled out two glasses from the jug of water and poured a little out for each of them. ‘Cheers,’ she said, clinking her glass against Kate’s a little too enthusiastically. Kate was holding her glass by the stem. It all happened in a breath. The stem broke and the glass bowl parted company from it, spilling the red wine over the carpet. Kate watched as the stain spread across the pale green carpet, soaking into the pile. She knew what red stains could do and immediately panicked. As she darted through the door towards the kitchen, she ran straight into Master Philip.
‘Where’s the fire?’ he said, stepping back.
‘Oh, Master Philip, I thought you’d all . . .’ Kate said loudly enough so that Eliza could hear.
‘Bad headache,’ Philip said holding his hand to his temple and pulling a face. ‘Came on very quickly, as soon as I heard Aunt Mildred was going to be coming with us, in fact. A constant earbashing only makes a person’s head ache more, don’t you agree?’
Eliza appeared at Kate’s side and asked if she could get him anything. An attempt to stop him seeing the mess.
‘No, thank you. I’m just looking for my pocket handkerchief,’ Philip said. ‘It must have fallen out of my jacket. You know how Mother hates things hanging around.’
He walked past both girls and into the dining room where the damage was in full view. Kate immediately started to apologize over and over until Philip held up a hand and said, ‘Enough Kate! I can see that an accident has occurred and will, of course, explain to Mother how it was entirely my fault. I knocked it off the table whilst getting a glass of water for my headache.’
‘But Master Philip . . .’ Kate interrupted.
‘Now don’t argue. Please let me deal with it. You do enough for us, Kate. Let me do this small thing for you,’ he replied. ‘I assume you have the right materials to clean this up, Eliza?’
Eliza nodded. ‘Yes. I’ll do my best but there may be a permanent mark,’ she explained as she left Kate to pick up the broken glass.
‘Thank you, Master Philip,’ Kate said. ‘I’m so sorry for causing such a disaster and on Christmas day too!’
‘Just think of it as my little present to you.’ Philip smiled. ‘I need to make sure you stay with us, Kate. You’re ten times better than the last nursemaid we had. I’ve seen how good you are with the twins and Thomas. I mean to persuade my parents to let you go with us in the New Year.’
‘Go with you? Why, where are you going?’ Kate asked.
‘It’s still a secret but Pa has got himself a new position. He’s to be manager of a new bank in London. Not a word to anyone though. Pa wants to bask in his own glory. No doubt Mrs B will have apoplexy but she’ll come around to the idea.’
Kate turned away from him in an effort to hide her reaction to this news. Her feelings always showed on her face. She had only just got used to being here in Andover, in Woodland House,and now they were moving to London! London was the city and she wasn’t ready for that! London was even further away from Micklewell and her family!
‘Don’t look so worried, Kate,’ Philip said. ‘It’s not going to happen right away. These things take time. You’ll get used to the idea. Have you ever been to London?’
She hadn’t but she’d heard stories about the crowded streets, the pickpockets and the drunks lying in the gutters. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go, even if not going with them to London meant finding another job.
‘I’d best get on with the clearing up,’ she said.
Between them she and Eliza managed to get rid of the stain and the broken glass without alerting Mrs B.
‘But we’ll have to tell her,’ Kate said. ‘If we don’t then Mrs Winton will instruct her to replace the broken wine glass and Mrs B will say “what broken wine glass?” and then we’ll be in trouble!’
‘All right, leave it to me. We’ll tell her how it was Master Philip, like he said, so we’re in the clear,’ Eliza replied. Kate was only too happy to let Eliza do the explaining.
As Eliza relayed the details of the accident to Mrs B, Kate found herself wondering what the future had in store for all of them. Philip hadn’t mentioned anything about Eliza coming to London but this talk of a move was sure to disrupt her plans for the future. She wouldn’t leave her Tommy, would she? What would her own dear parents say and how would she tell her sister, Dot? This was turning into a Christmas to remember in more ways than one.
Chapter Five
January 1913
It was several weeks into the new year when things began to move in a new direction. It was evening and Eliza had persuaded Kate to go and turn the gas lights out in the study. Mr Winton had retired some time ago, she said. Mrs B had nodded off in her chair in the kitchen and Eliza had taken her shoes off to warm her feet by the last glimmers of the fading fire in the kitchen range.
‘Oh, go on, Kate, please. You’ve still got your shoes on and you didn’t have all the fireplaces to clean and lay for the morning. My feet are killing me. I’ll help you with the children’s washing this week if you do.’
