Mask of Duplicity (The Jacobite Chronicles Book 1) by Julia Brannan Page B

jumped at the chance. From what he had said, his sister was weak, had no influence at all, and was all bluster. He had instructed the maid to take no notice of Beth and to obey only him.
    She stood now eye to eye with her adversary, assessing her. Beth was a good few inches shorter than her, and several pounds lighter. It was true that she had higher birth on her side, but it was not that that caused Sarah to lower her eyes after a moment. She had been in many fights in her short life and could now calculate her chances of victory before a blow was exchanged. She was under no illusions that Beth would carry out her threat if necessary, and would not scruple as to the means by which she achieved her ends. Clearly the master had underestimated his sister, but Sarah was taking no chances.
    From that day on Sarah gave Beth a wide berth. Beth took to locking her room when she wasn’t in it, and thought longingly of the happy and relaxed atmosphere which had filled the house only a month ago, but which now seemed so distant.
    In spite of Beth’s attempts to put on a cheerful face, the general mood of the household did not improve, even though the staff had received their wages. They were now very aware that there was an interloper in their midst who was probably reporting back to Richard, and this prevented them from openly airing their views and grievances in the kitchen.
    Therefore when she went downstairs early one morning to find her brother had already breakfasted, having the intention of visiting some friends in town and not returning until dinner, she was ecstatic. His horse had hardly clattered out of the yard before she summoned Sarah to her room, telling her that the master had told her she could have the day off, and had instructed Beth to give her a shilling to go into Manchester and spend. If Sarah was suspicious, she was not about to give up the chance of a day off and money to spend, and having changed into her best dress, she left the house half an hour later.
    Beth flew downstairs to inform the staff of this delightful turn of events, and within twenty minutes they were all sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a couple of bottles of Richard’s claret and chatting, their duties postponed for a while. Grace, as usual, sat separately by the fire, darning stockings. She had been brought up in a devoutly Presbyterian family, whose policy was that a woman’s hands should always be occupied, and that it was not seemly for them to engage in masculine topics of conversation or express opinions. In spite of Beth’s efforts to liberate her maid’s mind, Grace remained quietly resolute. Absolutely trustworthy and loyal she was, but she would not join in, and the others had come to respect that.
    Determined not to spend the precious time discussing Richard’s devastating influence on the house, Beth repaired to the library to retrieve the week’s papers and they settled down to discuss the topical events.
    Inevitably the conversation turned to politics, the ongoing War of the Austrian Succession, and the replacement earlier in the year of Sir Robert Walpole as Prime Minister by Lord Cartaret.
    “If it wasn’t for Walpole’s pacifist policies, we wouldn’t be on the point of going to war now,” commented Thomas. “He allowed France and Spain to become strong. We should have crushed them in the war over the Polish succession ten years ago, and then they wouldn’t be threatening Austria now. By not getting involved, we looked weak and lost a lot of our credibility as a nation.”
    “Yes, but that war had nothing to do with us, and he did have a point when he said that ‘if there is a war, the king’s crown will be fought for on this land’,” Jane quoted. “The king wasn’t as secure on the throne as he is now, and if we’d gone to war ten years ago France surely would have encouraged the supporters of the Pretender in Britain to rise. Could King George have survived a war abroad and a civil war in his