front o’ the house, the butler comes out to meet me. Yer should have seen his uniform; the buttons on his jacket were so shiny I could see me face in ’em. He told me to follow the path around the house to the back to the servants’ entrance, so I did.’ Here she stopped to catch her breath, but both women urged her on impatiently. ‘Around the back is the stableblock, the laundry room an’ the dairy, and by the time I got to the back door I can tell yer I was shakin’ like a leaf.’ She giggled again as she recalled her nervousness.
‘Anyway, then the housekeeper appears and she takes me down this big long passage to the kitchen. I couldn’t believe me eyes when I saw it. It must be as big as the one in Buckingham Palace!’
She nodded as if to confirm the truth of her words before hurrying on, ‘The housekeeper, well at first she points to a chair and tells me to sit down, so I did, then she starts asking me all these questions. I was so scared by then that the words kept gettin’ caught in me throat. After that she took me back out across the yard and showed me the laundry room – that’s massive too. There’s great dolly tubs and mangles everywhere, and there was a girl there washing who winked at me and made me feel a bit more at ease like. It’s her job I’ll be takin’ as she’s leavin’ to have a baby. Anyway, the housekeeper asked me if I thought I could do the job and I said yes, so then she took me back to the big house and told me to sit down and sit still.’ She paused again, trying to recall every single thing that had happened to her so as to leave nothing out. By now Amy and Beatrice had also joined her audience and were standing side-by-side, hands clasped, hanging on to her every word in the doorway.
Eventually, Mary continued, ‘It seemed like I sat there for ages an’ there were people scurryin’ about everywhere. One of the maids was laying this little trolley on wheels for the master and the mistress’s tea. I don’t mind admittin’, the things she were loading on to that trolley made me mouth water. There were tiny sandwiches all cut into dainty little triangles with the crusts trimmed off, an’ homemade cakes and tarts with icing on the top and cream inside. And the teapot, well … I’m tellin’ yer it must have been made of solid silver, and the milk jug and the sugar dish. And the china tea cups and saucers and plates were so fine that you could see your hand through ’em.’ She paused for effect and unconsciously licked her lips at the memory.
‘Any road, once the trolley was fully loaded, this other girl comes in. Cook told me she was Lily the parlourmaid and she was really pretty. She had on a black dress with a little frilly apron and a starched white cap, an’ off she goes to take the trolley to the master and mistress. Then when she’d gone, Cook gave me a cup of tea and a big wedge o’ fruitcake. It were lovely and it melted in me mouth. I can still taste it now, mm!’ She rubbed her stomach and grinned at the memory, and now it was Amy and Beatrice’s turn to lick their lips.
‘Cook’s name is Mrs Gibbs but everyone just calls her Cook. She frightened me at first ’cos she were shouting out orders right, left and centre whilst she were gettin’ the tea ready. But then once the parlourmaid had gone she calmed down and was really nice. She told me not to look so worried, that her bark was worse than her bite and that’s when she gave me the tea and cake.’
By now Amy and Beatrice had sidled up to the table and were listening wide-eyed.
‘After a time the housekeeper came back and told me to follow her. We seemed to walk for miles through all these corridors at the back of the house. She took me upstairs and showed me this bedroom, and it were then that I realised that I must have got the job because she told me that this would be the room I would be sharin’ with the other laundrymaid, Lizzie, the one I had met earlier in the laundry.’