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“He has increased our pay, sir. Quite substantially.”
“What of his man? He came with him from Yorkshire, I believe, so he knows him well. Does he speak ill of his master?”
“Not at all. He can’t speak highly enough of him, and he’s been with the family for thirty years now, and valet to the master for fifteen,” Keeble said, adding reluctantly, “That says something for the mercer, I suppose.”
“It says a great deal,” James said. “Generous, reasonable… and rich, Keeble. Very, very rich.”
“How rich is very rich?” Keeble said thoughtfully.
“From all I have heard, his income must be about ten times my father’s.”
Keeble’s eyes widened.
“Precisely so. And you should bear in mind, also, that wealth like that means that the family is well accustomed to the finer aspects of good society — the best food and wine, for instance, and exemplary service from their servants. One would not wish them to gain the impression that southern servants are in any way inferior, would one?”
The butler drew himself up a little. “Certainly not, sir!”
“Precisely so,” James said with a smile. “I knew I could depend on you to uphold the finest traditions of Hertfordshire, Keeble. I was sure that the little deficiencies of service of which I have heard are mere temporary hitches, soon to be overcome. Such as the tardiness of meals, and the lack of hot water, for instance.”
Keeble pulled a face. “The hot water… that was Millwright’s job, getting the coppers heated up, but he’s gone and no one knows how to do it now. The master and the young master are down there just now trying to work it out.”
James laughed. “Oh, isthatthe problem? No one but Millwright knew the knack? Well, well, well. I had better go and have a word with Mr Fletcher.”
He found him in his shirtsleeves atop a ladder, peering at a bewildering array of pipes and valves and levers. Down below, Will Fletcher stood forlornly watching, while Enoch, Mr Fletcher’s man, held his master’s coat.
“Are you making any progress, sir?” James called up to Fletcher.
“A little, a little.” He nimbly descended the ladder. “Good day to you, Plummer. Do you have any knowledge of these devices?”
“I am not familiar with such things,” James said.
“Aye, I daresay,” Fletcher said with a laugh. “I know how a copper works, but this is like no device I’ve ever seen. This is the copper itself, inside here, and the coals for the fire go down here, but usually there’s just a wooden lid on top, not all these pipes and whatnot. I’m trying to work out how the water gets into the copper, but I shall need to look at where these pipes come from.”
“And why the servants cannot explain it is more than I can work out,” Will Fletcher said morosely.
“Now there I can help,” James said. “There was a man who understood it, called Millwright, but he left a few weeks ago. There was a certain amount of coming and going amongst the servants before your arrival.”
“Was there, now?” Fletcher said. “Didn’t want to work for me after your father, I dare say.” He chuckled. “Can’t say I blame them. It must be a come down for them, after serving a baronet. So they’ve had to recruit a few new people, have they?”
“I regret to say that it is a little more complicated than that,” James said. “There were two sets of servants, one here and one at the Manor. Mother wanted to keep many of her own people so some of the Manor servants moved here, and others who did not wish to stay left altogether. Keeble was butler at the Manor, but Mrs Graham was merely the upper housemaid here. The cook here is new, from London.”
“Well, that accounts for a great deal!” Will said. “So we have a full set of servants, but some of them have never worked at the Park before.”
“Most of them, I should say,” James said.
“I imagine this Millwright would not object to coming here to explain the workings of these devices, for a fee,” Will said.
“That would be feeble indeed,” his father said. “Good heavens, Will, these are only water pipes. I know how a beam engine or a spinning jenny works, I can surely get water into a copper. Come on, let’s find out where these pipes come from.”
Looking for water pipes sounded too fatiguing for words, so James sent his compliments to the ladies and left the men to their work.
~~~~~
FEBRUARY
Now that the Fletcher family had settled into Chadwell Park, it had begun to seem rather more like home. It would never be quite the same as their much-loved house in Sagborough, but at least it was comfortable now that there was plenty of hot water and meals arrived more or less on time, apart from the one day when the dressing bell had vanished from the table in the hall and everyone had had to scurry about so that the fish wouldn’t spoil. Poor Keeble had been in quite a stew about it, but the bell had turned up the next day in the library, of all places. They had all grown accustomed to the vast scale of the place, apart from Rosie, that is, who still occasionally hid away in the gallery, and was so overawed by the butler that she called him Mr Keeble.
For Julia it was the grounds which she had grown to love. She knew her way around rather well by now, and although it was delightful to have so much space in which to roam, she found herself drawn very often to the gate at High Field and the prospect of open country beyond. So much empty land to enjoy! After a few tentative experiments, on one frost-nipped morning she decided to explore a little further afield.
