Breathless in the Dark by Elizabeth Cole

Author:Elizabeth Cole [Cole, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SkySpark Books
Published: 2020-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

For Tamsin, the most significant difference of the townhouse from Seabourne was that it was far less populated. The estate employed a dozen servants in the house, with even more for the grounds and the wider property. There was an army of maids, footmen, gardeners, stablehands, groundskeepers, and others all with specific domains. It had been impossible to walk down a hallway without encountering at least three people.

By contrast, the townhouse required only a handful of people to keep it running, and luckily the Marlow family fit the bill perfectly. They all seemed capable of performing several positions at once. Marlow, the older man who greeted them initially, acted as butler…and valet while Royce was in town. His wife, Mrs Marlow, served as both housekeeper and cook. It was funny to Tamsin when she was called Mrs Marlow when discussing household accounts, but Cook when it came to preparing meals. Wendy Marlow was the daughter, and she also worked twice as hard, as the household’s maid, both upstairs and down. The son, Errol, was a few years older than Wendy, and he was footman, ostler, driver, gardener, and whatever else Marlow dictated. The tight-knit family made the house feel quite cozy, considering that it officially was a bachelor’s home.

Furthermore, as far as Tamsin could tell, the servants were attached to Royce personally, unlike the servants at Seabourne, who were more invested in the notion of the Pelham name and title. Royce mentioned to her that he’d found Marlow several years ago, and found himself hiring the whole family in due time. They accepted the explanation of Tamsin’s presence without protest or surprise, and she found their service absolutely faultless.

On the second day, Tamsin was working in the sitting room designated for her use. As twilight fell, Wendy brought in tea for Tamsin and set the tray down carefully. She then poured the first cup and waited for Tamsin to taste it.

She did, delighted by the aroma, which was grassy with faint notes of jasmine. This was clearly an excellent blend. Not to mention that the tea was suitably hot.

“Ah,” Tamsin said, delighted. “I needed this.”

“Yes, miss. Do you require anything else?”

“No, Wendy. And I’ll likely work late tonight, so I’ll put the lamp out myself when I go up to bed.”

Wendy stepped back, but then paused. “May I ask a question, miss?”

Tamsin looked up, wondering what was coming. “Go on.”

“How did you become a secretary? Is it difficult? I…I don’t want to be a maid my whole life. Mama says I can work up to lady’s maid, but I’d rather try something else.”

Tamsin put the teacup down, thinking through her reply. “Well, Wendy, the fact is that I rather stumbled into this position. I had the qualifications, though. Which is to say that I write very well, both in terms of my penmanship but also my diction. I speak not only English, but French fluently. And I have some understanding of Italian and German too.”

Wendy’s face fell at this listing of accomplishments.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.