Page 80 of The Favourite

Jane glanced at her and braced herself. “I will, of course, listen to you, Ayleth, if you have something to say.”

“You may think as it’s not my place,” Ayleth began, and Jane recognized the chastising tone though she had not heard it in many a year. “The gods know I’ve tried. I’ve tried to push the words down, but it won’t serve. I need to speak my mind and you, my lady, need to hear it!”

Jane pursed her lips. “Well, I have said I will hear you out, but I can make no promises other than that, Ayleth. Speaking freely can come with consequences, something you will not have reached your age without learning, I am sure.”

Two spots of high color appeared in Ayleth’s cheeks and her thin lips worked for a moment with emotion. She inclined her head stiffly. “I’ve served your mother’s people since I was but a girl,” she started unevenly, “and in fifty years, I’ve never seen the likes of this household!” She clutched her fists at her side. “The way everyone is carrying on here is just not decent!”

Jane lifted her eyebrows but said nothing. Instead, she sat down in a chair and pulled the fresh shift over her head. Ayleth hurried forward to thrust a pair of mustard yellow stockings at her. Jane nodded toward the arm of the chair for she was now wrapping the cloth about her damp hair. “Set them there, please.”

Ayleth flung them down. “You must have noticed the state of affairs with that Robert as he calls himself!” she began fiercely. “Why, I’ve never seen such a cozening old rogue! He sits in his stockings of an evening before the fire, drinking the best wines, eating the softest of white bread.”

Her hair secured, Jane reached for the stockings, holding her tongue. Ayleth’s eyes flashed. Clearly, she found Jane’s response lacking. “What’s more,” she started again indignantly, “he has the largest of the servants’ rooms. And his best days clearly behind him! Wat does three times the work and reaps not one-tenth of the privileges.”

Jane considered this a moment, in light of what Alisander had imparted the previous evening. “Robert is my husband’s oldest and most trusted servant,” she stated plainly. “That is why he holds a position of privilege.”

“Pah! He is an old rascal, taking rampant liberties on account of his master’s partiality for him! And that is not even the worst of it,” Ayleth continued. “That Anne should not be encouraged to join in conversation with her betters at table. Lord Bardulf does not so much as make the smallest effort to put her in her place.”

Jane stood up and picked up her green silk gown. Ayleth hurried forward to help as she stepped into it and began securing it at the back, her fingers flying over the fastenings as Jane adjusted the neckline to her liking. It just about covered her collarbone, she was relieved to discover.

“He positively encourages her, and so do you!” Ayleth grumbled, tugging on the ribbons. “There is a lamentable lack of decorum all round. That lump Davis is nothing but an uncouth brute, and as for Anne—” She broke off her words with a harsh laugh. “If I did not know better, seeing how you both indulge that brat of hers, I would think it one of his lordship’s by-blows.” Jane stilled. “That is what people will think, my lady, you’ll see,” she added venomously. “They’ll say as he accepted my lady’s bastard, so long as you accepted his!”

Jane gave a short laugh. “You know that is not the case, Ayleth,” she said as the older woman started attacking her wrist lacings. “That is a little tight.”

Ayleth’s lips pressed together in a straight line as she loosened the ribbons. “She’s got loose morals, that one. Who’s to say she won’t get ideas? Your sister, my Lady Helen, would have never allowed her staff to be so familiar, and neither should you!” She hesitated. “There was more than one pretty maid she had to let go when she was here at court. They drew a gentleman’s eye in the wrong direction if you catch my meaning. Anne’s no beauty but she’s comely enough.”

Jane had to bite her tongue. “Is that the sum of your concerns?” she asked.

“That most certainly is not all!” Ayleth said, brandishing a pair of garters and kneeling at Jane’s feet. She tapped one foot and Jane lifted it for her to slip it over her ankle and calf. “Those children should be swaddled neck to toe for the health of their limbs. Why, any fool knows a baby’s bones are soft as wax!” She tapped the other foot and Jane complied. “She hasn’t even the sense to ask for hooks to be put up for their safekeeping,” Ayleth added with deepest disgust.

“Hooks?”

“To hang them from while she is about her work.”

Jane could not hide her confusion at this, and Ayleth stood up, plunking her hands on her hips. “’Tis plain to see, you know nothing about children, my lady. Both children should be bound to boards each morn. That way they can be set out of harm’s way while she does her duties.”

“The children are her duties,” Jane pointed out, but Ayleth ignored this point, rushing on.

“That chamber of Celestia’s is a disgrace,” she said angrily. “Always in disarray, and small wonder with that whelp of Anne’s rolling around and drooling on everything! It’s not fitting or right!”

“Nonsense,” Jane replied with an edge to her voice. “Celestia is well-fed and content. As for the swaddling cloths, those were removed with my expressed permission. If the child turns out one-tenth as sturdy as Bertrand, then I will be well pleased with her progress.”

“I don’t say as Anne’s not an adequate wet nurse,” Ayleth replied after a moment’s affronted silence. “But she is not a suitable nursemaid for the likes of that baby. She is naught but an ignorant girl at the end of the day, while Celestia is the daughter of a—”

“The honorable Celestia de Balon is the daughter of a viscount,” Jane pointed out in a steely voice. “It is his name she bears, and mayhap even his title, one day.” That did give Ayleth pause, and taking advantage of this, Jane continued steadily. “To suggest otherwise is to go expressly against the King’s orders, which would be foolhardy indeed.” Ayleth’s thin face turned scarlet, and Jane let her words sink in.

“As for Anne,” she continued steadily, “she is kindly and warm-hearted with good motherly instincts. She is exactly the person needed.” Deliberately Jane turned and walked over to the dresser, where she sat and, dragging the drying cloth from her head, seized a hair comb.

“If the conditions of our household are disagreeable to you, Ayleth, then you must cast about you for some situation that suits you better,” she said, trying not to feel guilty at her words. “If you wish to return to my mother’s house, then I can write to her at Mertford. Or, if there is somewhere else you prefer, I am happy to release you from our service.”

Ayleth stood frozen for a full minute before joining Jane. She held out her hand. “Give me that comb, milady,” she said stiffly. “You’re making a right mess of things.”

Jane was under no illusion that she was referring solely to her hair.

She broke her fast, with Robert fussing over her, then spent the rest of the morning in Anne and the children’s company. Celestia was fractious and Anne had to nurse her a good deal. Jane shook a rattle over Bertrand who happily gurgled back at her.

“Was Bertrand so difficult to settle when he was Celestia’s age?” she enquired as Celestia let out another complaining wail.

“Oh, he had his days, believe me! Luckily, I had me Mum on hand in the early days.”