always in a draught,â said Drew, sotto voce , as Cook, Edith and Burly proceeded to the kitchen. âTheyâre being absolute heroines, Clare. They swear they wonât take a penny of their wages and theyâre full of plans for keeping the old home going but I promised not to tell you.â
Merry collected the newspapers. âTheyâll want to see Fatherâs name in these.â
âThey will indeed,â said Drew. âBut what they want most is to hear him mentioned on television again. Well, theyâve done me a power of good. I was feeling a mite embarrassed about our situation but now I see disgrace is swallowed up by drama â and not only for Cook and Edith. You never saw such bright smiles as we drove through the village. People practically blew kisses.â
âHow kind of them,â said Clare. âEspecially considering weâve never been popular.â
âAh, but our stockâs gone up now. I donât deny the kindness but I think itâs combined with enjoyment â nice to know someone whose nameâs in the news, for whatever reason. Well, we must learn to bask in reflected publicity.â
Merry returned from the kitchen to say that Cook and Edith were hurrying on a marvellous lunch, to include pancakes.
âLike Shrove Tuesday, before Lent starts,â said Drew.
After lunch, the maids announced that they wished to go out for an hour or so. No, they did not want to be driven anywhere. And they would be back in time to get tea. Jane noted that they now wore unrelieved black.
âThose are the outfits they wear for funerals,â said Drew, watching them walk down the drive. âEven Burlyâs wearing his old black collar.â
âPerhaps theyâre in mourning for Fatherâs reputation,â said Merry. She then went off to see her friend Betty, who had telephoned most sympathetically.
âIt may be unfeeling of me but Iâm going to watch television,â said Clare.
âIf the telephone will let you,â said Drew, who had already declined three telephoned invitations to tea.
Jane, arranging the flowers she had brought in the previous day, found herself depressed. She still felt emotional aboutRupert, but exhilaration seemed to have gone off duty. She had intended the flowers for the music room, but now disliked the thought of revisiting it, so she took them to the hall. Being with Drew and Glare cheered her, until she reminded herself that only for a few weeks could she stay at Dome House. Eventually she must lose Rupertâs children as well as Rupert.
Soon after four, Cook and Edith returned to say they had got work at the Swan, where the manager had welcomed them with open arms.
âEver so pleased he was that weâd given him the first refusal of us,â said Cook. âWeâre going five days a week, starting Monday. Weâll get our lunch free, and Burly will too; we bargained for that. Weâre to be paid by the hour â my word, thatâs the way to coin money. And weâll be home in plenty of time to give you dinner. Of course weâll pay for our share of the food and weâll rent our room from you.â
âBut darlings, we couldnât let you pay us,â Clare protested. âYouâll be working for us.â
âOh, no, we wonât,â said Edith, firmly. âWeâll be working at the Swan. Youâll let us cook our dinner in your kitchen and itâll be no trouble to cook enough for you. And if we want to clean the house a bit at weekends, thatâs our affair.â
âAnd itâs no use arguing,â said Cook. âBecause we couldnât face your grandmother in heaven if we walked out on you now.â
âWe wouldnât even get to heaven,â said Edith.
A discussion then began as to how much they would pay for their room but Jane listened with only half an ear. It had delightfully dawned on her that she, too,
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