Read The Maid's Secret for Free Online

concentrated. ‘But we’ll get ’evening off. There’s extra staff coming in for the two days, but apart from that folks will just help themselves to food and drink. And then stagger off home,’ she added cynically.
    ‘So – will ’master and mistress come out and join us? And Master Christopher? It is his birthday after all,’ Ellen asked casually.
    ‘Oh, yes, I expect so, and I dare say some of ’county farmers’ sons will come as well. It’ll be less formal than on ’actual day; but I don’t suppose Mr Hart will stay long, nor ’mistress either. It’ll just be a polite half-hour to welcome everybody.’
    Good, Ellen thought. Then when they’ve gone back to ’house I might be able to snatch Christopher away for a short time. I’m sure he misses me just as much as I miss him. I know nothing can come of it, but . . . She mused on the various possibilities, the most important being that if he should marry, which inevitably he would, they might still meet secretly. It will be an arranged marriage, she thought, not a proper love match, and I could become his wife’s personal maid so that I’d know her comings and goings, and that would enable me to be with Christopher when she was occupied. How exciting that would be. She felt flushed and elated as she considered it.
    The house servants had had a collection to buy a birthday present for Christopher, and Ellen had suggested a pair of leather riding gloves; the cost was within their means and Mr Stephens, the butler, arranged the purchase. They would be presented on the day of the tenant and staff celebration party.
    That week there was a constant bustle as food was ordered and prepared, the house was dusted and polished, and beds were prepared for the guests. On the day before the first party, the gardeners brought in flowers for the house and vegetables for the kitchen.
    As Ellen crossed the hall to go downstairs, Christopher hurried down the main staircase. She paused, supposing that the rules of being invisible applied when meeting him now, but he lifted his head and smiled. ‘Hello, Ellen. What a busy time everyone is having. You must all be worn out.’
    From the corner of her eye she saw Mr Stephens in the withdrawing room. Any moment now he would emerge. She dipped her knee and murmured, ‘We’re looking forward to ’event, sir.’ She lifted her eyes to his face and gave a demure smile. ‘And all of ’maids are hoping you’ll have a dance with them.’
    She dropped her eyes as Mr Stephens came into the hall, dipped her knee again and scuttled down the kitchen stairs.
    ‘What were you doing up there, Ellen?’ Mr Stephens asked when he came down shortly afterwards. ‘I hope you were not speaking to Master Christopher?’
    ‘He spoke to me, Mr Stephens,’ she said. ‘He asked if we were worn out with ’preparations and I said that we weren’t. I had to answer him, hadn’t I?’
    ‘Hmph.’ He was clearly not pleased, and Ellen thought that at any minute there would be a lecture on how things used to be in his day, when both servants and masters knew how to behave. There wasn’t, however, and she guessed that he must have thought twice about criticizing his employer’s son.
    She was jubilant. She had told Christopher that all the maids were hoping to dance with him, which wasn’t true in the least. She just wanted him to feel free to dance with her.
    All the servants were up an hour earlier than usual on the day so that they could be ready in time to take the evening off. There was light cloud in the morning, but as the day progressed the sun became warmer and by five o’clock the weather was perfect as the fires were lit for the hog roasts, wooden tables and benches were put in place, and the barrels of ale were rolled out and left to settle.
    The maids were allowed to wear their own dresses, providing they were plain and modest. Ellen did up her only gown, dark blue with buttons down the front, and fastened a pale blue neckerchief