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

Chapter Twenty

Robert glanced at me from the corner of his eye as I turned my head to face Mrs Ealing, my hands trembling behind my back. Her lips were drawn into a thin line and her arms were folded over a chest. She had regarded me with a small tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow, her tightly pulled back hair making her look even more terrifying. As she glared at me, I noted the glint in her eye. The same glint I used to receive from the foreman when he intended to punish me for no reason other than he felt like it. Behind my back, my hands shook more violently.

"I was returning to the kitchen, Ma'am. I have finished the chores Miss Jenkins set me and I was going to ask what she wanted me to do next," I said. I fought with every word to keep my voice steady.

"Hm, a likely story," Mrs Ealing muttered.

"It's true. She was just finishing in Zachariah's room when I met her. I thought I would walk down the stairs with her seeing as I need a book from the library," Robert added.

"I didn't ask you, Robert. Go and fetch your book and be on your way. I'd like to have a word with Rosie on my own."

I swallowed the bile that had risen in my throat and glanced at Robert. He lightly placed his hand on the small of my back before he started walking towards his mother, turning to walk into the library. He glanced back and gave me a small, reassuring smile as he disappeared from view and left me alone with Mrs Ealing and nothing but the eerie sound of the clock ticking away. The wheeze in my chest seemed louder than it had before and my breathing sounded harsher and more aggressive, almost as though I still had influenza.

Behind my back, my hands continued to shake, and I could almost feel it riding up my body until it felt as though I was shaking all over. I took a large gaping breath as Mrs Ealing took several steps down the hallway. She paused only briefly to close the door to the library before taking several more steps until she was standing right in front of me. The methodical ticking of the clock echoed inside my head as I fought to keep my breathing steady. I could feel Mrs Ealing's breath as she looked at me, removing her hands from across her chest and dropping them to her side. She leaned forward slightly until she was only a small distance away from my face.

"If I see you loitering instead of working again, you will be receiving your second infraction. You are here to work, not to fraternise with my children and certainly not to stand around doing nothing. Do you understand me?" Mrs Ealing said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, Mrs Ealing," I muttered, my voice barely audible.

"Pardon?"

"Yes, Mrs Ealing," I repeated, my voice louder than before.

"Good. Get out of my sight."

Mrs Ealing leaned back slightly and waved her hand towards the darkened hallway that led to the kitchens. I turned away from her and placed my hands in front of me so she wouldn't see them shake. I didn't want her to see how nervous she had made me. One of the rules we had back at the factory was to never show the foreman when we were afraid of him. We had trained ourselves to become emotionless when facing him, to keep a straight face and our hands steady as he screamed and beat us. I knew it was a method I would have to adopt with Mrs Ealing if it meant I could deal with her determination to get rid of me.

I kept my eyes focused on the stairwell as I crossed the short distance and started down the stairs towards the kitchen, though I could still feel Mrs Ealing's eyes on my back as I went. Disappearing down the stairs, I pressed my back against the cold stone wall and listened as Mrs Ealing's footsteps echoed away from the hallway and back towards the drawing-room. My hands still shook as I knotted them together in front of me, battling against my lungs to steady my breathing and try to calm myself down a little. I didn't know what had started to happen to me whenever I came face-to-face with Mrs Ealing. The foreman had never put me on edge as much as she did.