Aggie giggled as she placed the bags on the bed. ‘Oh, the missus likes it fancy,’ she agreed. ‘In fact, the fancier the better. But she ain’t such a bad old stick. Her bark is far worse than ’er bite, if yer get what I mean?’
She opened the bags and began to lay Emmy’s gowns across the bed, commenting, ‘Some o’ these will want a quick iron. I’ll do ’em for yer, miss, just as soon as ever I get a spare minute.’
‘Oh, please don’t worry,’ Emmy told her hurriedly. ‘I’m sure you have more than enough to do cleaning this place. I’m quite capable of doing them myself. What’s that door there?’ Without waiting for an answer, she strode towards it and was pleasantly surprised to find her own bathroom, which was just as luxurious as the bedroom. The walls and the floor were marble and a tap was suspended above the deep claw-footed bath.
‘We can pump hot water straight up here from the copper in the kitchen. Saves havin’ to carry it up in buckets,’ Aggie explained. ‘An’ when you’ve ’ad yer baff that hole there lets the dirty water drain straight out to a drain in the yard. It’s good, ain’t it?’
‘It’s very clever,’ Emmy agreed as she fingered the soft towels that were laid ready on a chair.
‘Anyway, miss, I’ll leave yer to get yerself tidied up an’ then the missus asked me to tell yer to join ’er in the drawin’ room. I’ll bring yer some tea then I’ll come up an’ put yer clothes away for yer.’
‘Thank you, Aggie.’
The maid bobbed her knee and scuttled away, and after removing her bonnet and tidying her hair Emmy made her way downstairs, hoping she would remember which door led to the drawing room.
‘You decided to come then?’ her aunt greeted her when Emmy eventually opened the right door and entered the drawing room.
‘Of course. I said I’d be here, didn’t I?’ Emmy retorted and a little smile hovered on the older woman’s lips. She liked someone with a bit of gumption.
‘And is your room to your liking?’
‘It’s very comfortable, thank you.’ Emmy took a seat opposite her aunt and folded her hands primly in her lap.
‘Good, then we’ll start as we mean to go on. Once Aggie has served the tea you can read the newspaper to me. I can’t be doing with these damn spectacles. I’m sure they make my eyesight worse and now I have a dog I’m not going to bark myself, am I? I shall expect you to earn your keep.’
It wasn’t the friendliest greeting but Emmy hadn’t really expected any more. Her aunt was clearly used to having her own way and Emmy sensed that they might well clash from time to time, but even so she was prepared to do her best to make her new position work. She really didn’t have much choice because she didn’t want to have to run home with her tail between her legs!
Chapter Fifteen
Much later that evening as Emmy began her first night in her new home, Abi lay on her bed listening carefully until Hetty’s gentle snores echoed down from the attic room above hers. She rose quietly and began to cram some of her favourite gowns into a large travelling valise. When she was satisfied that she had packed everything she would be able to carry, she lugged it downstairs and out to the little shed. Unfortunately, the gowns she had taken down that day to be washed were still where she had dropped them after Hetty had refused to do them, but she consoled herself that if she proved to be half as popular in her new job as Jasper had promised she would be, she would soon be in a position to buy herself a whole new wardrobe if she wished to. Once the valise was in place, she crept back to bed where she tossed and turned until the first jewel colours of dawn streaked the sky, when she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
The following two days seemed to pass interminably slowly but at last her mother and Hetty retired to bed and she went to her room where she waited on tenterhooks until she was quite sure they would be fast asleep. She then hurriedly changed into her favourite travelling costume and crept downstairs where she placed a letter she had written to her mother on the mantelpiece. She then tiptoed outside without once looking back to wait for Jasper. Within minutes she saw him striding across the field in the gloom and once they had collected her luggage from the shed, they carted it across the field to the waiting carriage.
She was surprised to see one of her uncle’s labourers up on the driving seat and Jasper winked at her. ‘I’ve paid Jim to run us into town and keep his mouth shut, that way the horse can go back to his stable this evening,’ he told her as he bundled her up the steps.
Abi looked mildly concerned. ‘But what if he goes back and tells them what we intend to do?’ she whispered fearfully.
‘By the time he gets back to the farm we’ll be well on our way to London; I managed to get us tickets on the last train,’ he promised her as he tapped the roof of the carriage to let Jim know they were ready. The carriage set off and Abi clung to the seat as it rocked across the uneven ground.
Soon after, as the train chugged out of the station in a smog of steam and smoke, Abi nervously bit down on her lip as she watched the lights of her home town falling behind her from the window. It was strange to think that she might never return and for the first time, nerves set in as she questioned whether she was doing the right thing. But as she thought of all the humiliation she had suffered since her father had run off leaving them all to clean up his mess, she raised her chin with a determined glint in her eye.Of course I’m doing the right thing,she tried to convince herself.I might be young but I can look after myself!
For a time, they sat staring from the window into the darkness beyond, but it had been a stressful day and soon Abi was fast asleep and knew no more until Jasper nudged her awake.
‘Come on, sleepyhead. We’re at Euston.’
Bleary-eyed Abi stared up at him before knuckling the sleep from her eyes and following him on to the platform. A porter fetched their luggage and minutes later they emerged from the station into Euston Square. Despite it being close to midnight it was still teeming with people, but Abi just wanted her bed now.
‘Where do we go now?’ She didn’t really care so long as she could lie down and rest.
In contrast, Jasper was still in fine spirits. ‘I’m to take you to where you’ll be living. Lilly is expecting you.’ Stepping into the road he raised his hand and a hansom cab drew up next to them. They clambered inside and, thoroughly exhausted, Abi sagged against the stained leather squabs as the cab rattled across the cobblestones. It smelt of unwashed bodies and cheap gin, but Abi was past caring.
Eventually it drew up outside a soot-stained building with a large sign over the door that read ‘The Black Cat’ in bold gold letters. A burly-looking doorman with a large scar running all down one side of his face was standing outside it and he nodded at Jasper as he helped Abi down from the cab.
‘We can’t be staying here, surely?’ she said nervously as she eyed the building and the street. There were some very dodgy-looking characters loitering about.
‘Of course we won’t. This is where you’ll be working. Lilly’s house, where you’ll be living, is round at the back of it.’
‘Oh!’ Abi wasn’t too thrilled at the position of her new home at all but as he lifted her luggage, she followed him down a long alley that ran along one side of the club. It was very dark and smelt strongly of urine, and Abi’s spirits plummeted even further as she wondered what she had let herself in for. This wasn’t the sort of place she’d imagined it would be at all. Once or twice she stumbled and had to steady herself on the wall, but at last they came to the end and after turning a corner she saw a large front door ahead of them.
