Master's Match by Murray Tamela Hancock

Author:Murray, Tamela Hancock
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-10-27T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

For the next few days, Becca didn’t see much of Nash. Instead she spent her time amid a flurry of ladies employed to wait on her hand and foot and to teach her how to behave in society. Becca felt undeserving, grateful, and overwhelmed. How would she remember everything they told her? The proper way to address important people. How to distinguish one fork from another. The difference between a butter knife and a fish knife. Sizes of spoons according to purpose. They instructed her to pace her eating so she didn’t conclude any course before her guests. Dining slowly felt strange after years of chaotic meals at the Hanham house.

And learning new songs to sing! The teacher’s method of unrelenting criticism discouraged more than inspired her, but for Nash’s sake, she persisted.

Their continued efforts evidenced themselves most in her appearance. Bernice, the ladies maid Nash hired, proved her worth. As soon as they met and Becca saw her sweet, plump face and upturned mouth, she knew she could get along well with such a cheerful soul. Bernice had been born in a Boston slum, so she knew what it was like to come from humble circumstances.

“I started in the scullery and worked myself up to being a ladies maid,” she told Becca during her first day on the job. “When I started with my first mistress, Mrs. Devon, my speech was much like yours. There’s hope, Miss Hanham.”

Bernice’s reassurances comforted Becca, though no doubt her new maid thought they had much work ahead of them. Still, she sympathized with Becca and did everything she could to help her transition, which lessened the burden for them both. Not only did Bernice gently correct her grammar and speech, she made Becca look the part of the future Mrs. Nash Abercrombie. Though she always made a point of being clean, Becca had never spent so much time on her appearance. Bernice styled and restyled her hair for different times of day, and she promised that once her new dresses were completed, she would help her don the appropriate dress for each time of day. Bernice even sprayed rose-scented toilette water on Becca, a luxury she enjoyed.

As they got to know one another, Becca felt more relaxed in Nash’s house. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be comfortable as the center of so many servants’ attention, but she tried to relax and allow herself to be tended by others.

When she wasn’t being served, speech and music lessons occupied her time. Practice was a must, and sometimes repeating the same song over and over bored her, but rehearsing proved less of a chore than she thought it might. As for speech, she tried taking tips from the poetry of the King James Bible. Such inspiration helped.

The outdoors held its distractions. Nash had offered to teach her how to handle a horse, taking her to the country to ride horses he boarded there for hunting and pleasure. Even in the chilly weather, she found she enjoyed the lessons.

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