Page 60 of Not Exactly Mr. Darcy
Just then Poppy, one of Marge’s pub workers, found them. “Hey, Marge, thanks for cleaning out the toilets.”
“Toilets? What toilets?”
Poppy pointed to the WCs behind the kitchen. “It was such a mess yesterday, but it looks great now.”
“I didn’t do it.” Marge glanced at Liam. “Did you or George?”
“I’ve been too busy, and I think we both know that George wouldn’t think of it. And neither Veronica nor Tobias would’ve had time either.”
“I especially liked the little thank-you note in there,” Poppy said. “That was really sweet.”
Marge glanced at Poppy. Then back at him. Sighed. “Okay, I might have underestimated her.”
“I think we’ve probably all underestimated her.”
Him, most of all.
Chapter 13
Tuesday passed with fewer volunteers but seemingly just as much work completed as the previous day. Or so the reports at that night’s debrief meeting suggested. The parterre garden was now all weeded and clipped, a plumber had been called for the fountain, and the croquet lawn and walled garden areas had been mowed.
Marge, who was working at the pub that night so couldn’t be there, had reported via Liam that her crew had completed cleaning the café area, and she’d asked the council to arrange an inspection as soon as possible. She’d also contacted an ice cream van and Wendy’s coffee cart, who were both set for Friday.
Inside the Hall, the remaining public rooms downstairs had been cleaned, and the great stairway polished and cleaned too. Which left the Long Gallery and four bedchambers upstairs to be attended to tomorrow and Thursday.
“And I’m gathering interest from those stewards to see who might be available for an ongoing roster,” Gran said. “One doesn’t want to overwork one’s volunteers, and many have previous engagements in the summer. We are going to have to recruit more helpers.”
“How have you done that in the past?” Liv asked. “Do you have steward training days?”
“We haven’t had anything formal. It’s more that they learn on the job as an assistant.”
“How have you garnered interest?”
“Word of mouth, really. A friend of a friend who is interested in history, that kind of thing.”
“How many stewards do you need as a minimum?”
“Ideally we’d have one in every room. But we could make do with one or two on each floor.”
Liv nodded. “If we start with one on each floor, and ensure our information cards are up to date, then people will have the chance to ask an expert.”
“But how will we make sure people are not sitting down on the beds and chairs?”
“Put signs up requesting they don’t. Some stately homes put pine cones on the seats.”
“Well, yes, but how do we stop people handling things? Some of the artefacts are priceless.”
“I presume the priceless ones are insured?” Liv asked Liam.
He nodded.
“That’s the best we can do, then. We don’t have the budget for cameras or the manpower for security guards. So if the insurer is happy with this arrangement, then that’s all we can do. Apart from pray.”
“Amen,” Tobias said.
She smiled at him, thankful for his genial ways. Marge and Liam seemed to have swung back to cordiality towards her today. Even though she wondered if the latter’s thaw was about to change with her next bit of news.
“Now for my update. After an extensive search by Liam and George, it seems we cannot find the passcodes for the original website. So I’m suggesting we set up a similar one that uses the same name but is a dot org rather than the dot co dot UK it currently is.”
