The Governess- 16

“Tell me about the maids and the kitchen staff and what their exact
responsibilities are, and then you can tell me about Richard.” Lady Rawlings
smiled. “I think if I am going to be talking for the rest of the afternoon we
had better have some tea.” She rang the bell cord hanging from the wall at the
side of her chair. “Wendy, who answered the door to you, will probably answer
the bell. I will get Annette to bring the tea tray and you will be able to have
a look at her. I will tell you about the kitchen maids first. They are Rachael
and Claire. Rachael is from Douglas and was up before me in court as a ward. Her
mother died just after she was fifteen, her father had abandoned the family
years before to live on the mainland. I don’t think there was too much love in
the family and I took pity on her and gave her a job here. She is under a
supervisory order until she is twenty-one years old. In essence that means that
she is legally in my charge. If she were to leave she would be brought back or
jailed upon my decision. She has responded well to kindness and has become an
excellent member of the household. She is well built, certainly not plump but
shall we say well rounded. I showed her kindness and apart from one little
incidence which was the first time I punished her, her conduct has been
flawless. In fact the only time she makes a mistake is on purpose” Jane nodded
her head. “Tell me what little incidence and what you did about it.”
“I thought you would pick me up on that. She spilled a large copper cooking pot
of soup all over the kitchen floor just prior to dinner. Diane had brought
Veronica to the house for the first time and was rather annoyed when we could
not serve soup. They laughed about it afterwards, but I do think Diane was very
annoyed at the time.”
“How did you punish her?”
“A good smack bottom of course!”
Jane waited knowing that if she did Lady Rawlings would go on with her story.
“I was rather tempted to punish her there and then in the kitchen but I was not
sure how she would react with Claire present so I waited until the next day and
had her come here to my study. I chastised her verbally but with I hope
understanding. She broke down into to tears and said that she admitted it should
not have happened and that she thought the world of me and would do anything to
make it up, In fact I seem to be suffering a lot with hero worship at the
moment, Wendy is just as bad.” Jane smiled, her understanding of human nature
surpassed her years. “It is very normal for girls to get a crush on their elders
and betters as well as their peers.” Lady Rawlings nodded her agreement. She
brushed back her hair with her hand and smiled at Jane. “Of course I already had
an inkling of how the girl felt and I really was hesitant about punishing her,
however there was something in her voice that prompted me to carry out what I
had already planned. I told her that in view of the seriousness of the occasion
I would have to cane her bottom. To my surprise she blushed bright red but
nodded her head and said ‘I know madam.’ She might have heard that Wendy had
already had a smack bottom with the hairbrush I imagine the girls do confide in
each other occasionally. To cut a long story short, and I will have to if I am
ever going to brief you on the rest of the household. I told her to take off her
kitchen coat. It is a white coat and often their only clothing apart from
underwear, it often gets very hot in the kitchen.