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

Chapter Sixteen

I woke to the sound of pots and pans clanging together in the kitchen below.

A small strip of sunlight travelled across the ceiling as I rolled onto my bag and pressed my hands to my face, realising I hadn't put my arm back in the sling after the morning's cooking attempts. I rubbed my knuckles against my eyes to try and wake myself up a little as the noises from the kitchen got a little louder. Esther had disappeared from the room and the blanket had been draped over my body. Sitting up, I ran my hands over my hair and felt all the loose strands and missing hairpins that had fallen out during the night. I collected the pins in my hand and stood up, crossing the room to the mirror where I removed the rest of the pins and ran the brush through my hair. I quickly tied it in a knot and pinned it in place before leaving the room and entering the kitchen.

Miss Jenkins stood with her face over the stove, her hands stirring the contents of a large pot rather vigorously whilst Esther draped a towel over a rack in front of the brazier. She smiled at me as I stood in the doorway and watched. A single sunbeam travelled through the small window and lit up the doorway.

"I would say good morning, but it's almost noon," Miss Jenkins said as she looked up from the pot and caught me standing in the doorway.

"Noon? Why didn't anyone wake me?"

"From what Master Robert said, you needed the sleep. Were you awake all night?"

"I needed some time to think

"Alright, well, Doctor Ealing has already left for the office so you'll be doing some chores around the house, if we can find something for you to do." She looked down at my arm, still hanging out of the sling. "Sit down, I'll make you something to eat."

Pulling out one of the chairs, I took a seat at the table and slipped my arm back into the sling. After spending the night with it out, I had some doubts that the sling would do what it was supposed to be doing, my arm seemed to spend more time out of it then in it. Miss Jenkins said nothing about the breakfast I had left out and instead started to make me a little something to eat. After a few minutes, she pushed a plate of cheese, tomatoes and a slice of bread towards me. She returned her attention to the pot on the stove as I tucked into the cheese and tomatoes. On the draining board sat the egg cups and plate from earlier that morning, Miss Jenkins had eaten them but decided to say nothing on the matter, not that I blamed her.

When I finished eating, Miss Jenkins sent up to Matilda's room to do some dusting seeing as I could do that with one hand. Matilda was nowhere to be found as I nudged her door open and slipped inside, duster in hand. Her desk had returned to its usual state of disrepair, but with only one hand I could nothing about it. Instead, I dusted around the objects on the desk and hoped she wouldn't notice that I hadn't moved any of them when I cleaned. I hoped Doctor Ealing was wrong about the fractured shoulder blade and broken collar bone if he were it would stop me from doing anything other than dust. I didn't want to spend several weeks dusting.

I moved across the room to her bedside table, swiping the cloth across the table and the small candle holder. The table wobbled slightly as I leant across it to dust the back. As I reached down, I spotted a small glass out the corner of my eye, the glass was empty, but it had no reason to be in Matilda's room. Miss Jenkins had a strict rule about everything being returned to the kitchen after it had been used, Matilda looked as though she was trying to keep it hidden. I reached forward and grabbed the glass, placing it on the bed as I shifted the table back into its usual position.

"I was trying to keep that hidden," Matilda said, pushing the door open and entering the room.

"Hiding it under your bed would have been a better spot," I said, smiling slightly.