Story: Maid Jenny and Her Mistress. Chapter 3.

by Jackie J

The same clock that had offered its lulling rhythmic ticking rattled into life. The hand of a disoriented Lucy pawed forlornly to seek the silence of the bells ringing. She stretched and pulled herself onto the pillar, her bleary eyes seeing the time to be five thirty!

The wash basin offered some further awakening and, staring at the shears and comb, Lucy scraped back her hair into the tightest bun before concealing it under her cap. She put on clean underwear, drew up her coarse stockings to the broad garter straps and then pulled on her clumpy shoes before tightening the laces. The lace apron gave some feminine definition to her shapeless heavy woollen dress and she was ready.

Menus were pinned by the rota sheet and Lucy got busy with her Mistress's poached eggs and toast whilst brewing a pot of tea, an early morning routine that would be repeated each day.

Her Mistress's tray prepared and noting the time was six fifteen Lucy made her way up to the  bedroom to serve breakfast. The irony of this task was not lost on Lucy. The very same breakfast served at the very same time to when she herself would awake to her maid Jenny serving her. How different she felt now!

Two knocks on the bedroom door and a call to enter followed from within.

Lucy curtsied and presented the tray to her mistress who was wearing a beautiful nightdress and a peignoir.

“Your Breakfast, Mistress.”

Jenny smiled or, rather, that was more of a smirk: here she was, the maid of Long Lawns, sitting in the bed chamber, wearing the finest nightwear and being served breakfast by her humbled and curtsying Mistress!

Jenny sliced into her first egg and the yolk ran as requested. 

“Thank you, Lucy. I may need help dressing later. I will call if I need you. Off you go, I am sure you have much to do.” 

Backing away from the bed, Lucy curtsied.

“Thank you, Mistress.”

When Lucy left, Jenny chuckled: she did note that her maid had not cut her hair. She knew she wouldn’t.  Her smile broadened as she nibbled on her toast thinking of item twenty six of the maid’s contract and the last item on the list of conditions prepared by Mrs Lancaster for the Long Lawns maid.  

Lucy was busy with the laundry when she paused to answer the door. It was her friend Marianne -Mrs Sunderland for her now. A pause and a stern look brought a reluctant curtsy from the Long Lawns maid. 

“Marianne, sorry I mean Mrs Sunderland, before you see my Mistress could you just.." Lucy had to ask she had to. "She wants me to cut my hair. It ts one of the conditions that I wrote on the maid's contract when Jenny came to Long Lawns. I never thought...Will you ask her not to make me? Please, please Mrs Sunderland!”

Marianne was not used to seeing her confident friend pleading. Only one day in her apron and already her demeanour changed so much. It was remarkable. Having her golden locks trimmed back will no doubt take away a little more of her confidence, make her a little more servile, she will certainly look the part.

Marianne strode into the hallway and turned to Lucy.

“I told you at the outset I would not intercede and I won’t. Miss Jenny Osborne is the Mistress here at Long Lawns and what she says goes. I will hear no more of this. Call your Mistress, it is time for her tuition.” 

Lucy informed her Mistress her tutor was here and returned to finish the laundry.

With washing hung out on the line at the rear of the house, Lucy continued to work through her list of chores.

Cleaning, dusting, polishing, preparing and serving lunch, changing the linen on the beds and bathroom, cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping the stairs, beating the rugs from the lounge and the hallway... Lucy was almost falling asleep when the time came to prepare dinner for her Mistress and Mrs Sunderland.

The day for Jenny and Marianne was much more relaxed but no less gruelling for the Mistress of Long Lawns. Her back ramrod straight with a heavy book balanced precariously on her head, she recited poetry, the mentor correcting her for each slip back into her more common tongue.

When dinner was served by her maid, the Mistress of Long Lawns was sharp of tongue. Watching her poor friend wilt under the verbal onslaught of criticism, some deserved but much not, amused Marianne. Having cleared away the dishes following the sweet course, Jenny called her maid back to the table.

“Take off your cap, girl.” 

Lucy looked sheepishly at Marianne then to her Mistress but seeing her glare lowered her gaze and slowly removed the cap.

“Now remove the pins. Let your hair fall.”

Each pin removed, Lucy’s golden locks fell about her shoulders.

“What did I tell you last night? You have disobeyed me. When you are in your room this evening I suggest you look at your contract, item twenty six to be precise, before you consider disobeying your Mistress again! You know where the shears and comb are. I won't repeat twice, girl.”

Lucy felt small, vulnerable and weak. She had toiled hard all day at her tasks. She prepared and served meals without a thank you or a kind word. She was weary and tired and had no will to argue. Her teary eyes rose momentarily and then sank back to the floor as she saw two unforgiving faces glaring at her.

“Dismissed, Lucy.” 

Lucy returned to the kitchen, pinned back her hair, replaced her cap and scrubbed out the pans that had been soaking. After she completed washing and drying and placed all the crockery and cutlery in the cupboards and drawers, she sat down exhausted at the kitchen table with a mug of tea. She was ready for her bed.

Hearing chatter in the hallway and then the closing of the main door, Lucy smoothed down her apron and left the kitchen to seek out her Mistress.

Lucy found Jenny at the foot of the main staircase and curtsied.

"Mistress, will you require anything else this evening?"

Jenny looked at her weary maid, the toll of the day's labours evident.

“No, Lucy, you may retire.”

--

Marianne was totally against Lucinda’s social experiment from the start and had tried in vain to talk her friend out of such stupidity. Even at the eleventh hour she had offered an end to the folly but Lucinda had been adamant to continue.

During the three weeks, now into the fourth week, working with Jenny she had become more keen even enthusiastic seeing the changes she had brought about in the maid. Progress had been rapid with her willing pupil and she was confident that, given she continued to make similar progress, she could actually transform this common girl into a lady capable of passing off in front of Lady Southward.

In equal measure to how Jenny was progressing Marianne, was fascinated by how her friend Lucinda had acquiesced into her role of a housemaid. Only two days back in her own home and she seemed a different person altogether! Her maid Jenny was saying jump and her Mistress Lucinda was asking how high. It was simply remarkable! 

During the short carriage ride back to her home of Meadow Hall, Marianne chuckled to herself considering that there was perhaps not one pupil in this social engineering experiment but two.

It was Friday and, leaving Lucy to her work in the house, Marianne decided to take Jenny out in her carriage to see how she would cope with dealing with the coachman and indeed anyone else they encountered. Jenny took the opportunity to confide her concerns she had with her maid concerning her hair. Given Lucinda had still failed to trim her locks in line with the conditions of service that Lucinda herself had demanded in her contract for her maid. Even the not-so-veiled threat of invoking clause twenty six had failed to get her maid to comply. Marianne contemplated this impasse which was an undermining of Jenny’s authority. Jenny was becoming stronger and more confident in her role of a Mistress but this situation needed to be resolved if progress was to continue.

Marianne asked Jenny to loan her a copy of the maid's agreement that Lucinda had composed to familiarize herself with its contents.

Jenny dealt well with the coachman and she only made one slip of the tongue whilst visiting the haberdashery store to collect supplies for Lucy’s sewing. To all who met the elegantly dressed pair they were both real ladies. Whilst visiting the post office, the font of all gossip, Marianne took the opportunity of introducing Jenny to the postmistress. Mrs Simpkins asked some awkward questions about her missionary work in Africa but unflustered Jenny coped well. In the end, Mrs Simpkins was pleased to meet Lucinda Lancaster’s cousin Miss Jenny Osborne, a young lady looking after Long Lawns during the extended absence of her cousin.

Back in their carriage on the way back, Jenny and Marianne giggled reflecting on the success of their subterfuge. Marianne laughed telling Jenny that everyone in the village would know about the returning missionary within a week. It was Jenny’s suggestion that perhaps she should read up on Africa and missionary work in case it was raised at a later date. Although she had successfully bluffed her way with Mrs Simpkins it would not be the case with someone more familiar with the subject. Jenny’s thinking impressed Marianne and she agreed to obtain some books for her to study. 

On their return to Long Lawns, Lucy served lunch for her Mistress and guest. 

During the afternoon, whilst Lucy, down on her hands and knees, was brushing the main stairway carpet and polishing the balustrade, Marianne had her pupil walking up and down the stairway with three books balanced on her head. Each time the swirl of Jenny’s skirts passed her toiling maid the sweet distinctive scent of her perfume filled Lucy’s senses. It was Lucinda’s favourite perfume and, like everything else at Long Lawns, it was at the complete disposal of  Jenny Osborne.

Leaving Jenny to practise a piece of prose, on which she would be tested later, Marianne studied the maid’s contract that had been prepared by her friend Lucinda and was now used by Jenny for maid Lucy. Marianne had never seen the document before but was rather alarmed to see the signature at the foot of the contract signed not by Jenny but by Lucinda herself. Boldly written in the space for the maid’s acceptance of the conditions detailed the unmistakable signature of Lucinda Lancaster! 

She read through the clauses of the contract which on the whole was very similar to the agreements she had with her own maids. A three-year contract seemed rather generous and whilst Marianne had no such condition with her staff, clause twelve was quite unambiguous. The maid’s hair should be short and neatly kept, preferably in a bob style, colour black. Marianne had chuckled at clause twenty six at the end of the agreement that Jenny had referred to the other evening. She could never imagine her friend Lucinda invoking that clause, doubting she would have the resolve to spank anybody.

Marianne chuckled considering the development of the pupil number two. If a maid can be transformed into a lady, which is progressing well, then perhaps...Marianne smiled to herself. Perhaps a lady can truly become a maid?

Marianne found Lucy working in the kitchen preparing vegetable for the evening meal.

Lucy turned and curtsied, this act of deference now instinctive.

“Mrs Sunderland, can I help you?”

Marianne closed the door and pulled out a chair from under the kitchen table before taking her seat.

“A cup of tea and make one for you. Then sit with me.”

Lucy put two cups of tea on the table and sat opposite her friend.

“What can I help you with, Mrs Sunderland?”

“Never mind that, Lucinda. It's Marianne. Remember, your friend,who agreed to help you with your crazy scheme to transform your maid into a lady? Let me be frank. I have spent weeks with Jenny and despite all my initial reservations she was making excellent progress and I was pretty sure that your scheme to hoodwink Lady Southward would be successful."

Lucy took a sip of her tea, looking quizzically  at Marianne. She had used her proper name Lucinda, she said Jenny was making excellent progress. What’s the problem? Has Jenny had enough? Is the studying too much for her?

Marianne continued.

“I think it’s over, Lucinda.”

Lucy leaned forward concerned.

“Over? What do you mean? You said Jenny was learning well. I can see that for myself. What has upset her? Why does she want to stop? She is living a good life as the Mistress at Long Lawns. Surely you can convince her to carry on. I don’t understand what the problem is, why stop now?”

Marianne took a gulp of her tea.

“Jenny? It’s not a problem with Jenny. It’s you, Lucinda.”

Lucy looked over the table at her friend, astonished.

“What? Me? Look at me, look at my hands, this bulbous uniform, I curtsy and pay deference to Jenny. I clean and cook and serve her meals, she wants for nothing. What do you mean it’s me?"

Marianne took another sip of her tea, seeing the concern in her friend’s eyes. 

“You are usurping her authority. You can’t let go. Jenny is fully committed as I am to making this project, your project, a success and we are well on the way. But if you cannot accept Jenny to be the Mistress at Long Lawns what is the point in carrying on? We are trying to turn Jenny into a confident lady, you being her maid was to allow her to practise that confidence. Like any Mistress of a household's her word must be obeyed without question. That was to be your part in all this, remember? Your personal vanity regarding your hair is going to ruin all the work I and Jenny have done together.”

Marianne paused. It was time to put Lucinda back into character. 

“Miss Osborne, in keeping with her role of the Mistress at Long Lawns. offered you, her maid, a contract to sign. The exact same contract drawn up by her cousin Mrs Lancaster who is away travelling. You signed that contract when you entered into service here at Long Lawns. When your Mistress pointed out the clause concerning the length of your hair you disobeyed her. Even when she warned you of clause twenty six, a clause again written by her cousin, that you would be spanked for your insubordination, still you chose to disobey your Mistress.”

“So if you were a Mistress here at Long Lawns, what would you think? What would you do?”

“Miss Jenny is young and new to being a mistress but I, Mrs Sunderland, am not and as her tutor and mentor I have chosen to intercede on her behalf. If we are to continue to develop Miss Osborne, for me to remain her mentor and you to remain in service to facilitate her development, you will first cut those untidy locks to the style and colour required and then present yourself to seek your punishment. This will allow Miss Osborne to reassert her control, her rightful and total control over her maid."

Marianne raised her voice standing from the table.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND, LUCY?”  

Marianne did not wait for a reply, exited the kitchen and slammed the door shut, leaving a stunned Lucy sitting at the table staring at her mug of cold tea.

Walking back to test Jenny with her elocution, Marianne chuckled to herself. If Lucinda is foolish enough to proceed with the instructions she had left her with, which she had a high degree of confidence she would, then she would definitely be supervising the class mobility of two pupils at Long Lawns, not one.

Subscribe to Lady2Maid Blog Newsletter