Page 11 of Under the Seductive Ladys Charm
“What are you doing?” Mrs. Sullivan was forever asking her that question. Charlotte would have found it amusing it the woman was not so jarring.
Charlotte went blank for a moment under Mrs. Sullivan’s critical glare. She blinked. “Oh, yes, I am going to fetch Aman– I mean Miss Easterly’s tea.”
Mrs. Sullivan’s lips pressed into that thin line of disapproval. Charlotte was not entirely sure the woman had another expression. She certainly had not seen it if the woman possessed one.
“Then do so swiftly. I have a chore for you.” Mrs. Sullivan sighed at a maid who scurried through the entrance hall. “Beatrice, hold your shoulders up. You are not a hunchback.”
Charlotte felt bad for the maid, who now had Mrs. Sullivan’s attention, but it freed her to leave while the woman’s scrutiny was elsewhere. She hurried on to the kitchen, mentally counting. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine.
“Did the little companion get lost?” It was Katrina. She was an upstairs maid, but there she was standing with one of the other maids outside the dining hall.
Charlotte shook her head. “I have to go get tea for Amanda.”
“Oh, calling the Ladyship by her given name, are we?” Katrina scowled at her. “You should learn your place.”
The other maid said, “Heard Miss Easterly scolding her, Katrina, for not knowing how to sew a button.” The maid gave Katrina a grin.
Katrina smirked. “I am amazed every day that she learnt how to walk.”
“I have to be going,” Charlotte said as she turned, but Katrina’s companion was clearly not done with her as the girl hurried over to block Charlotte’s path.
The petite little maid giggled. “Shh. She might cry, Katrina. I heard she does that a lot.”
“Poor thing,” Katrina said in a simpering voice to Charlotte. “Don’t feel too badly for her, Gretchen. I am sure those meals she enjoys with His Lordship ease her troubled heart.”
Gretchen tutted. “Yet she has the gall to act as though she is put upon.”
There were footsteps and the two maids were quickly gone into the dining room leaving Charlotte alone. Lord Easterly came around the corner and gave Charlotte a look of concern. “Are you quite well, Miss Browne?”
Charlotte stared at him for a moment. He was so kind. Why was he so kind to her? “Yes,” Charlotte breathed the word. She quickly added, “Your Lordship.”
“Do not carry on with the titles,” Lord Easterly said with a wave of his hand. “I have known you since you were a child. Does not seem right to be so formal.”
Charlotte ducked her head. “Forgive me but I need to fetch your sister her tea.”
“Of course,” Lord Easterly said. Charlotte looked up just long enough to see the man incline his head to her. Then he was past her with his long strides.
His dark blond hair with its slight waves reminded her very much of the unruly young man he had once been. The grey in his beard served to bring her back to the here and now. He was a formidable man now.
Charlotte made her way toward the kitchen, again counting off the steps until she saw Henrietta’s ample form at the stove. “Ah, there you are. I suspected that you would be along to fetch the Ladyships’ tea.”
“She requested that you put extra honey on her pastry, if it is not too much trouble.” Charlotte slipped her hands nervously into her apron.
Henrietta chuckled. “Now I know my Miss Easterly does not care one bit for my trouble, so thank you for thinking of me, Charlotte.” The woman gave her a wink as she drizzled a bit more honey over the pastries that were laid out on a silver tray. “There. It is all ready for you to take upstairs.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said with a sigh as she picked up the tray. Henrietta alone seemed to not view Charlotte as some usurper. She gave the woman a smile as she turned with the tray to leave.
As she walked, she thought about Katrina and Gretchen. She thought about the other maids too. She had not known Katrina was to be Amanda’s lady’s maid, nor would Charlotte have accepted the position if she knew she would be ousting someone else.
Yet, she could not seem to get the staff to understand that it had been Amanda’s choice and had little to do with Charlotte. The walk up was blissfully quiet as she did not pass any other staff. She found Amanda waiting impatiently for her.
“Here you go,” Charlotte said as she sat down the heavy tray. She stood nearby waiting for Amanda to either ask her to sit or to send her away. That much she had learnt she was supposed to do.
Charlotte longed for a little tea herself, but of course Amanda only sometimes offered. “Sit down, Charlotte. You make me tired just standing there.”
With permission, Charlotte sat down with a sigh of relief. “I have been thinking, Amanda.”
Amanda’s eyes came up to look at Charlotte, but she did not speak. Instead, Amanda helped herself to a pastry and watched Charlotte as if waiting for a play to begin.
