age should have so much responsibility placed upon her shoulders. My life is hard, and yet I am blessed, for I have Grace and my Granny Reid to look out for me. Until three years ago we had our own little cottage in Mancetter, which was tied to the pit our father worked in. Our mother died in childbirth some years ago, and sadly I only have vague memories of her, and then when Da was killed in a pitfall we had to leave our home. Thankfully, we were then taken on by Master Fenton and we came to live here. I know that we are fortunate that Master Fenton allows us to live in Stonebridge House but I do sometimes wish that he was a kinder master. Our granny is now very old, at least sixty years, so I believe, and I think sometimes that the kitchen work is becoming too much for her. Granny and I and Grace have rooms in the attic. They are freezing cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer. In the autumn when Grace marries her Bertie they will live in the accommodation above the stable, and the room that I now share with my sister will become all mine. Grace is the chambermaid and the scullerymaid, I am the kitchenmaid and Granny is the cook. Bertie is the groom, and I think that he and Grace love each other very much. I am quite envious of them sometimes and wonder if I shall ever meet a boy I will fall in love with. Granny tells me to be thankful for what I’ve got, but I cannot help but dream. Besides us, another family called the Tolleys live in a cottage in the grounds. Phoebe and Hal Tolley have four boys and they also all work for the Master. Hal and the boys do all the jobs about the place as well as tending to the gardens, and Phoebe does the laundry work.
Today the tinker called by and Grace bought me a red velvet ribbon which I shall wear in my hair when I go to the fair on Saturday. It is presently in the Pingles Fields in Coton. I am going with Grace and Bertie, but Granny has warned me not to spend all my hard-earned pennies on fripperies. It is all right for her, she is an old woman, but I like to look nice on my afternoons off. I went to the fair last year and greatly enjoyed it. The only thing I didn’t like was the great brown bear who was shackled to the ground with chains about his ankles. His eyes were sad, and I felt sorry for him. People were poking him with sticks to make him roar and I thought they were cruel.
I shall have to close now to go about my duties. Master Fenton has visitors arriving later today and I must help to prepare their rooms. Granny says they will no doubt be gambling in the study until the early hours of the morning as usual and so she will probably have to stay up too, to serve them drinks and food. She worries about the Master since the Mistress left him earlier in the year. She says it’s a wonder his flour mill in Attleborough hasn’t gone under because he is hardly ever there to run it properly now, but Bertie said the Master had a good manager in charge there. Bertie doesn’t feel sorry for the Master, in fact he said it served him right that the Mistress had gone because of the way he treated her, and that it was a good thing they were childless. Maybe that’s why the Master plays the fool: he might have wanted an heir. I miss the Mistress. She was kind. Sometimes she would give Grace and me her cast-off gowns, and Granny would alter them to fit us. Rumour has it that the Mistress has returned to live with her parents at their country estate in Shropshire and that she will never return. I hope they are wrong. The house is not the same without her.
As Jess gently closed the book on Martha’s first entry a shudder rippled through her despite the heat that wafted in through the open French doors. She knew she should share the journal with Simon, but she felt strangely reluctant to do so. It was as if she had discovered something very precious and for now she wanted to keep it to herself. After carrying the book up to her bedroom she went about her chores, but her
Today the tinker called by and Grace bought me a red velvet ribbon which I shall wear in my hair when I go to the fair on Saturday. It is presently in the Pingles Fields in Coton. I am going with Grace and Bertie, but Granny has warned me not to spend all my hard-earned pennies on fripperies. It is all right for her, she is an old woman, but I like to look nice on my afternoons off. I went to the fair last year and greatly enjoyed it. The only thing I didn’t like was the great brown bear who was shackled to the ground with chains about his ankles. His eyes were sad, and I felt sorry for him. People were poking him with sticks to make him roar and I thought they were cruel.
I shall have to close now to go about my duties. Master Fenton has visitors arriving later today and I must help to prepare their rooms. Granny says they will no doubt be gambling in the study until the early hours of the morning as usual and so she will probably have to stay up too, to serve them drinks and food. She worries about the Master since the Mistress left him earlier in the year. She says it’s a wonder his flour mill in Attleborough hasn’t gone under because he is hardly ever there to run it properly now, but Bertie said the Master had a good manager in charge there. Bertie doesn’t feel sorry for the Master, in fact he said it served him right that the Mistress had gone because of the way he treated her, and that it was a good thing they were childless. Maybe that’s why the Master plays the fool: he might have wanted an heir. I miss the Mistress. She was kind. Sometimes she would give Grace and me her cast-off gowns, and Granny would alter them to fit us. Rumour has it that the Mistress has returned to live with her parents at their country estate in Shropshire and that she will never return. I hope they are wrong. The house is not the same without her.
As Jess gently closed the book on Martha’s first entry a shudder rippled through her despite the heat that wafted in through the open French doors. She knew she should share the journal with Simon, but she felt strangely reluctant to do so. It was as if she had discovered something very precious and for now she wanted to keep it to herself. After carrying the book up to her bedroom she went about her chores, but her
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