The Elizabeth Chater Regency Romance Collection #3 by Chater Elizabeth

Author:Chater, Elizabeth [Chater, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-01-13T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Of course Tally did not get away scot-free with her innovations. Just before bedtime she had her small group seated in the newly furbished dining room. They stared around them with satisfaction. After an afternoon of hard work and hasty improvisation, they had created a little miracle. A pair of red velvet drapes, faded to a soft rose, were hanging from a rod over the window, their dust-grimed ends ruthlessly chopped off by Charlotte’s shears. The round table was covered by an old linen sheet, clean but mended, which Tally had promised to cut and hem neatly for the next evening. A lamp with a quaint rose-painted shade on the table, another on the sideboard improvised from an old bureau, gave a pleasant glow to the small room. Piety and Alfred, already fanatically devoted to Miss Temple, had insisted upon bringing up the supper from the kitchen, and serving it in correct form. Their single stipulation was that Miss Tally should instruct them in the proper service of the meal.

“Me an’ Alf ’opes o’ betterin’ ourselves, if you’ll learn us how the servants in great ’ouses go on,” Piety announced. “Alfred wants to be a butler someday. I telled ’im you could learn him more in a minute than ol’ Reeby ever knew,” she confided. She had washed her face and hands, and made an effort to tidy her wispy hair, although nothing could be done to smarten up her deplorable garments.

Tally was deeply touched by the child’s trust. “Of course I shall do my best to help you, Alfred and Piety. It is the least I can do to repay you for all the extra work I have put you to! And what I do not know, I am sure my Father can tell us. He is sure to have a book about it.” Tally’s dimpled smile invited the young people to join her in her joke. “But what do you wish to learn, Piety? In addition, of course, to the writing and reading I shall be teaching you?”

After a searching glance at the beautiful young lady, Piety whispered, “Would ye ’ave time to learn—to teach me ’ow to be a fine leddy’s maid, ma’am? Then I could get good wages and mebbe ’ave a new dress . . . an’ a pretty bonnet?”

Tally’s soft heart was completely won. “Of course I’ll teach you all I can, Piety! How quickly you caught the correct term, my dear child! I can make you a new dress this very week—that is, as soon as I can obtain some material. You shall very soon be the smartest ladies’ maid in Devonshire—in attendance upon the Misses Dade.”

Piety’s small, grubby face fell. “It’s too much to ’ope for, Miss Temple,” she said, extending her chapped, red little paws, cracked with rough work and harsh soap.

“I have a lotion which will help those to heal,” promised Tally, heartsick at the evidence of the ruthless use of the small servant, and recklessly resolving to bring about a change in the child’s circumstances.

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