The Serving Girl // Book 2 in the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Seven

"What possessed you to leave your work and climb up a tree knowing full well my son was on the ground below? Not only did you leave your position in favour if some childish past time, but you acted in an improper manner in front of the children! You may have been able to wiggle your way out of your previous infractions, but this was a direct breach of orders and everything we stand for in this household. This will be your first official infraction. Two more and you will be out of this house without a reference, do you understand?" Mrs Ealing said, her voice high pitched as she looked down her nose at me.

"Yes, Mrs Ealing," I muttered, keeping my heads clasped behind my back. They shook violently as I stood before her, nothing I did could quell the anxiety that was bubbling away inside of me. It was like being stood in front of the foreman with his steel-like eyes glaring down at me. I could never escape that glare, no matter how hard I tried.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Yes, Mrs Ealing," I said, clearing my voice.

"Mother, this is ridiculous! Rosie saved Zachariah's life, again. You cannot give her an infraction for simply noticing something no one else saw," Matilda said.

"It is not your place to tell me what I can and cannot do with my own staff, Matilda. I thought I taught you better than that."

"I apologise, Mother."

"Good." Mrs Ealing turned to look at me. "Get out of my sight."

With a flick of her wrist, the meeting was done. At first, nobody moved. It was as though the entire room was holding its breath for something else to happen, for the next disastrous step that was sure to come. Nothing happened. No one moved or even seemed as though they were breathing as Mrs Ealing crossed the room and stood looking out of one of the windows. I didn't look to see what everyone else was doing, I simply turned slowly on my heel and slinked out of the room. My hands were still shaking violently as I brushed them over my skirts and walked down the corridor and towards the front door.

I passed by the side door that led down to the kitchen and out of the front door, jogging down the steps and out onto the gravel path. The wind was cold against my cheeks and hands as I stood on the path and looked out at the trees and the gravel path that twisted and turned away from the house. As I looked down the end of that path I realised just how easy it would have been for me to walk down that path and never look back. It all seemed so simple, to just walk down the gravel and away from Mrs Ealing and the infractions. Yet as simple as it may have seemed, it was far more complicated than simply walking away.

I had money saved but it wasn't enough to live in London and without a reference, getting a new position would be next to impossible. I couldn't survive in London on my own and I certainly wasn't going to ask Matthew for any help. He had a family and I wasn't going to be the one to interrupt that. Walking down the path and away from the house sounded easier enough but everything else was too complicated to have to deal with. Getting away from Mrs Ealing seemed easier enough, but it was never going to be as easy as I hoped it would.

"You really shouldn't be out here, if those clouds bust you're going to be soaked," Matilda said, jogging down the steps to join me on the gravel path. Her head was tilted up towards the sky as the dark clouds moved across, clouds that weren't there when I had been outside earlier.

"I'll take the risk. What's a little water compared to strike one of three?" I muttered.

"Mother was out of line back there. Nothing you did today was improper, and she shouldn't have said such a thing. You saved Zachariah's life for the second time and if you hadn't had been there he could have been seriously injured, or worse."