When he was gone with a polite nod, Matilda gestured to the food. “That tray is for the pair of you. Please eat. I am sure you are very hungry.”
They looked at her a long moment and then scampered to the tray. While they ate their fill, Matilda collected the letter for their mother, and the coins from their wages she meant to send home with them and waited patiently.
The boy finished first, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The girl used the napkin and then stood stiffly. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Matilda smiled. “Now. I want you to do something for me. I want you to take this letter and these coins and go straight home to your mother.”
The pair cried out. “Don’t turn us out.”
“Oh, no. Never.” She hurried to them and caught the girl’s hand. As the elder, she was the one who needed to understand they were not being punished by being sent away. “The letter explains everything for your mother, but I want you to have a little holiday from your duties. I know how hard you have worked here and how little freedom you’ve been allowed. The other servants have not treated you very well, and I’m sorry I have not done more before today.”
“You were always kind to us, and we don’t want to go.”
She was glad they thought well of her, but it was best they be removed for now. She was about to set the house into an uproar, and she didn’t want these mere children caught up in the chaos. She passed the note and money to the girl. “You are to go directly to your mother, no stopping to buy treats along the way since your tummies are full already. Help your mother if you can with your siblings, sleep, rest, and do as she says. Then next Tuesday you are to return to your duties here. By eleven if you can, or earlier if you want.”
They appeared confused. “Are you sure, ma’am?”
“I am very sure,” she promised them.
“You’re not mad at me because I let Mr. Lloyd in,” the boy whispered.
“No. Not at all.” Matilda smiled at the boy. He appeared very worried. “I had something to tell him anyway, so you did me a very great favor.”
Brother and sister glanced at each other quickly. “Thank you.”
She walked them to the door, fretting over them finding their way alone. Mrs. Young had not given them leave in the past year. Would they get lost? “On second thought. Dawson!”
He appeared within seconds. “Yes, my lady.”
“Would you be kind enough to hail a hack for this pair? I am sending Nora and Paul home for a short holiday. It is a very long walk to their mother’s home, and I would not like them to become lost.”
The boy’s eyes widened considerably. “A carriage ride? Truly?”
Dawson beamed, ruffling the boy’s hair. “Only too happy to arrange it. If I may, I’d like to accompany them so the hack takes them the whole way and not half the distance for twice the fare.”
Matilda nodded, removed sufficient coin from her pocket, and handed enough to him for the round trip. “A wise precaution. Hurry back. There are still a great many changes to make today.”
Belowstairs, the sound of Mrs. Young’s complaining could be clearly heard. She shrieked and the younger servants ran to the rail and glanced down while Dawson and Matilda listened from a safe distance. He smiled suddenly as Mrs. Young’s protests about her dismissal became clearer.
He nodded to Matilda approvingly. “Looking forward to it actually.”
“I thought you might.” She grinned. “We are going to need a new housekeeper.”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
“Indeed I do, and that can be discussed later. But first let’s get Nora and Paul away on their holiday.” She put her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I will see you both next Tuesday, and by then I hope to have everything improved belowstairs.”
The girl, who had always been more reserved than her brother, dipped a curtsy and led her brother away. Matilda held Dawson back. “Make sure no one interferes with them on the way out of the servants’ hall. I have no proof of this, but I want to be sure their wages reach their mother without subtractions.”
“Agreed.” Dawson rushed after the children, speaking in low tones as he ushered them into the servants’ staircase.
So far, all was proceeding as Matilda had hoped. Next was dismissing Jenny and Jane herself if Mrs. Young refused. She didn’t anticipate too much trouble from that pair of imbeciles. She’d pay them enough final wages to send them off smiling with their passable letter of reference. After that, she had enough time to place a notice in the paper for new staff and to draft a new outline of duties. The days where a young or harder-working servant bore the brunt of chores was over. She would personally oversee the staff until a suitable replacement was employed as housekeeper and judged sufficient for her needs.
She was hard at work on a revised and far simpler menu for Cook when William strolled in.
“That was not pleasant,” William remarked as he tossed a book onto a chair and stopped inches away. “You might have warned me you planned to upset the applecart today.”
Matilda stood and faced him. “You told me action was overdue.”