AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. Perfectly fine. Thank you.” Katherine got to her feet. “I believe I may go down to the kitchens now to speak with Mistress Hollett. Would you be so good as to show me the best way, please?”
She could probably have located the kitchens unaided, but Aggie was clearly eager to oblige, and Katherine was keen to establish a rapport with her closest servants. She would be relying on their loyalty and goodwill once she moved to Roxburghe permanently. She followed the chattering girl downstairs, though the hall, and down another flight of stone steps to the kitchens below. They passed through a narrow passageway with storerooms off to either side, and emerged in the cavernous, sweltering space beyond, the domain of Mistress Hollett herself.
The cook was occupied stirring a massive cauldron, in which the remains of last night’s feast were bubbling merrily. Doubtless, the noon-time meal would consist of stew. The seductive aroma of freshly baked bread filled the smoky, steamy air. Katherine hoped this would accompany the broth.
She stepped forward, smiling. “Mistress Hollett. I do hope I am not disturbing you.”
The woman peered at her through the smoke from the fire, then handed the enormous spoon she had been wielding to one of the scullery wenches. She bobbed an awkward curtsey, not rendered any more elegant by the fact that the cook clearly believed in sampling her own work at frequent intervals.
“Beggin’ yer pardon, m’lady. If I ’ad kenned ye were comin’ I would ha’ been ready tae greet ye proper, like.” She sank onto a stool beside the huge oak table. “Can I get ye a wee bite tae eat?”
“I have just had breakfast, thank you. May I sit with you a while if I am not keeping you from your work?”
The woman beamed. “Aye. Do that, m’lady.”
Katherine pulled up another stool and sat down. “I would very much like to congratulate you on the splendid fare you set before us yesterday. The Florentine pie was especially good. I would love to have the recipe.”
She did not expect for one moment that the woman would be entirely forthcoming. A cook’s culinary secrets were, after all, hers alone. But Mistress Hollett did confess to including oysters, pigeon, and belly pork in the filling, and assured the soon-to-be countess that it was all in the pastry, really.
“You have been cook here for a long while, I understand,” Katherine prompted.
“Aye. More’n twenty years. I was a maid afore that, worked wi’ auld Janet, who did the cookin’ back then. When she died o’ the flux, I took over an’ just sort o’ stayed at it.”
“You must know Roxburghe well.”
“Like the back o’ me ’and, m’lady. Would ye like me tae show ye round?”
“If that would not be a bother. I would like to see the bakery, and the laundry, as well as the storerooms. Perhaps we can do an inventory together when I return here after my wedding?”
“Aye, that we shall.” The woman heaved herself to her feet. “I am sure ye will find it all tae be in good order.”
“Naturally,” Katherine concurred. She had no doubt of it.
Mistress Hollett sent a stern glare her assistant’s way. “Peggy. Ye can take over this stew. Mind it doesnae burn, see.”
The appointed guardian of the spoon nodded and gave the pot a brisk stir. “Yes, Mistress Hollett.”
“Well, then. This way, m’lady. Through ’ere is where we keep the fresh vegetables…”
The tour took the better part of an hour, during which Katherine became acquainted with most of the domestic arrangements which kept Roxburghe running smoothly. She met Peggy Trott, who was a seamstress, in the main, though she assured Katherine that she could turn her hand to a bit of weaving when called for. Then she was introduced to the laundress, Molly Bridges. Katherine wondered whether she should perhaps contrive to have discreet word with Mistress Bridges regarding the likely state of the laird’s bedding this morning.
She also met a man whose name she found quite unpronounceable but whose duties included the care of the wines and ales destined for the laird’s table.
“Flour’s milled i’ the village,” Mistress Hollett explained when they reached the storeroom where sacks of dry supplies were piled in neat rows, “but we brew our own ale. I bake fresh bread every day.”
“It smells delicious,” Katherine replied. “And everything seems to run very efficiently. I am sure we will get along famously.”
“If ye want anything tae be done different, ye must say so.”
“I shall, but I doubt there will be much to alter. You manage a fine household, Mistress Hollett.”
The woman beamed. “’Tis Bridie, m’lady.”
“Bridie. Of course. You have been most kind and generous with your time this morning. I would not wish to trouble you further.”
“’Tis no trouble, lass. I mean, m’lady…”
Katherine allowed herself a satisfied smile. She was already on the way to being accepted.
