“I should like my room untouched,” she said, before leaning back over the handkerchief and sewing with great speed and determination.
Shuffling to her feet, Cordelia bid both ladies adieu.
She closed the door behind her and walked into every room on the ground floor. Including the unfortunately placed and rather smelly water closets. Her second time around, she realized why every course at dinner last night had been cold. The large formal dining room was on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen.
It simply would not do.
The main hall, with all the armor, was right next to the kitchen and more than large enough to hold Blanche’s table and fifty matching chairs. The walls were wood-paneled and the floors were a dramatic checkerboard pattern of black and white. Of all the rooms in the house, it was nearly perfect as it already was. All it needed was proper lighting.
She walked into the kitchen and saw the butler.
“Hibbert, just the person I was hoping to see. Would you mind coming on a walk with me?”
“A walk, my lady?”
Cordelia felt the eyes of every servant in the room on her face. She forced herself to smile. “Yes, I should like to have a few pieces of furniture moved.”
“Very good, my lady.”
Hibbert held out his right hand for Cordelia to go first. They entered the main hall. Their footsteps echoed against the marble tiles.
“I am excessively fond of this room.”
The butler gave her a curt nod.
Praise didn’t seem to sway him. Cordelia attempted another smile. “I should like for the formal dining room table and chairs to be moved here and for the main hall to become the formal dining room.”
“The other room has served as the dining room of the Ashby family for over three hundred years.”
“How pleasant,” she said, nodding. “I cannot wait to hear more about my husband’s family, and I am sure no one knows more about Ashdown Abbey than you.”
She was pouring on her sweetness rather thick, but nothing seemed to breach his implacable reserve.
“There is no need to change the traditions of this house or this family,” he droned in a monotone voice.
“Be that as it may,” she said, no longer smiling, “I am now the mistress of this house, and I want the table and chairs moved—today. Before dinner.”
Hibbert stiffened. “Very good, my lady.”
“Thank you, Hibbert,” Cordelia said. “Would you please send Mrs. Norton to speak to me? And please have her bring a notebook. There is much to be replaced.”
Cordelia waited in the empty main hall for the housekeeper to arrive. Mrs. Norton was already scowling before they even walked up the stairs. The housekeeper was an older, heavy-set woman, with a rough-hewn face as if she’d been carved from wood. Her long arms hung limply at her side, and her gray hair had been scraped back from her face in an unforgiving and unattractive bun. Cordelia politely told her that one third of the bedchambers were going to be split in half and made into private bathing rooms and water closets for the bedchambers immediately adjacent on both sides.
“But what of the furniture in those rooms?” Mrs. Norton asked gruffly, without even bothering with the honorific “my lady.”
“I wandered through them this morning and the rooms have a layer of dust on the floor. Most of the furniture appeared to be in poor condition. All the mattresses and linens and draperies need to be replaced.”
“We have not had the staff to keep up with the house until very recently.”
Cordelia held up her hands. “I am not accusing you, Mrs. Norton, I am merely explaining that there is a great deal of furniture that is not in excellent condition. I should like for it to be given away to our tenants if it is still serviceable. If it is not, please have the pieces burned. The remaining furniture will be refinished and redistributed to the remaining bedchambers.”
If the woman pursed her mouth any tighter, the small line of her lips would entirely disappear. Cordelia must be handling it all wrong. She was trying to improve the lives of their servants, not to offend them.
“And I should also like to replace the mattresses and linens in the servants’ quarters, both the attic and basement. Would you be so good as to provide me with an accurate count?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Cordelia tried another smile. “I appreciate all that you do, Mrs. Norton. Would you be so good as to find the best locations in the attic and basement for the addition of bathing rooms and water closets? Thomas and I wish for our staff to have the best accommodations possible.”
