Transformation of the Shelley Sisters by Louise Allen

Author:Louise Allen [Allen, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781742901572
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Limited
Published: 2011-02-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

‘Mrs Knight, are you free to go through some of the rooms with me?’ Bella found the older woman in the stillroom, frowning at a list in her hand.

‘Of course, my lady.’ She put down the list and smiled at Bella. ‘I was just wondering where all the beeswax polish has got to. I could have sworn we’d got enough made up to last another month, but I can see we’ll be raiding the hives before long at this rate. Now, where would you like to be starting, my lady?’

‘The main bedchamber floor, if you please, Mrs Knight.’ Bella picked up her skirts and walked upstairs side by side with the housekeeper. ‘I would like to see what we have available for guests.’ Elliott would have many friends and she was determined that she would be an excellent hostess for him. Surely warm hospitality and goodwill would make up for her lack of sophistication and knowledge of the ton?

The master suites were in the central block of the house with two wings on either side. Mrs Knight led the way along to the far end of the West Wing and began to open doors for Bella to see the rooms. ‘There are six rooms along here, my lady. Best for bachelors, I always think, for they’ve no dressing rooms.’

‘This little chamber at the end would make a good location for a water closet,’ Bella suggested. She had read about such luxurious indoor plumbing and was determined to persuade Elliott to invest in some.

‘Running water, my lady? In the house?’

‘Yes, indeed, Mrs Knight. And more than one of them, if possible. So much more pleasant than the old earth closets, don’t you think?’

‘I wouldn’t know, my lady, I’m sure.’ It was obviously a radical thought, but Bella, although grateful for the indoor earth closets after a lifetime of the vicarage’s privy in the garden, was inspired by the idea of modern plumbing. ‘It will be an awful lot of disturbance, won’t it? All those pipes?’

‘And I think we will need a tank, so that the closets can be flushed.’

‘It’s a good thing his lordship’s a progressive man,’ Mrs Knight said, still dubious. ‘His last lordship wouldn’t have stood for it and that’s a fact.’

‘No?’ Bella was surprised. Rafe had struck her as a man who would have wanted the latest comforts. ‘I hope we will be having house parties here before long,’ she added, changing the subject. She did not want to talk about Rafe any more than it seemed Mrs Knight did.

‘That will be nice,’ the housekeeper said, and sounded genuinely pleased at the thought of all that extra work.

There did not seem to be much wrong with these rooms, they could certainly wait until she had dealt with the pink draperies in her own suite. They were almost back to it now. ‘What is this?’ The door opened onto a sitting room with furniture under dust cloths.

‘A sitting room for guests in this wing, my lady. It was a suite at one time, I think; there’s a dressing room off it that is used for storing things now.

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