Chapter eight.

I did not sleep much that night. It was practically morning anyway. I helped Ella up to my room, and laid her down on the bed, as she still did not have a place to sleep. She cried herself to sleep. I lay in the bed next to her, and closed my eyes. I fell asleep for about an hour before the sun was too bright to let me sleep.

I got up and changed quietly. I rooted around in my drawer and found the black ribbon I had worn for a month after Lady Eleanor had died. I braided my hair back, and secured it with the ribbon. It was the least I could do out of respect. I did not own a black dress.

I walked slowly downstairs to the kitchen. Mrs Taylor was already up, cooking breakfast. My siblings were not yet awake, and neither was Mrs Pole. She was hit especially hard by the master's passing. She had worked here for years, ever since Sir Henry and Lady Eleanor got married. She had watched Ella grow up, and was very fond of the family. Mrs Taylor and I decided to let her sleep.

Mrs Taylor was understandably upset, and a little annoyed. She had been forced to serve dinner the night before to the three ladies. Apparently, Lady Cecil had walked down the kitchen, and found only Mrs Taylor there. She had asked when dinner was to be served, and Mrs Taylor had told her that she had thought dinner was cancelled, until it was clear what was to be done about Sir Henry.

Lady Cecil became enraged at that, and told her that dinner was going to be served in five minutes. When Mrs Taylor had pointed out that there was no one to serve them the food, Lady Cecil demanded that Mrs Taylor serve them, or she would be fired.

My dislike of Lady Cecil was growing by the minute. However, I was too tired to think clearly.

We prepared breakfast, and I went up to the dining room when the bell rang. I walked into the room to find Lady Cecil, Lady Anna and Lady Jaqueline sat at the table, only Jaqueline displayed any sign of grief. Her eyes were red. I greeted them.

'Lady Jaqueline, Lady Anna, Lady Cecil' I said, placing down the bowls of porridge in front of them.

'It's Lady Kingston now.' She said sharply. She clearly had not lost any sleep. I bit my tongue. I was not sure if it was the lack of sleep or the grief, but I was really beginning to hate this woman. The name Cecil was the only thing tying her to her late husband, and she clearly found the first opportunity to lose it. Ella was now the only Cecil, her family were truly gone. She could not even say she had relatives by name. I gritted my teeth together, desperately trying to keep in the rage I was feeling at this evil woman.

They ate their food in silence. When they were done, Lady Kingston addressed me.

'I need you to gather all the servants in the drawing room in half an hour.' She informed me. I nodded, sceptical of what this was about.

When I returned to the kitchen, Daniel and Clara had woken up and were sat eating breakfast at the table. I told them of Lady 'Kingston's' demand, and went to go and rouse Mrs Pole. I found her laid on the bed, still in her working clothes. Her pillow was wet with tears. I gently shook her awake, and told her that we had to be in the drawing room in a few minutes.

We all stood in the drawing room moments later, a little apprehensive about what this was about. Clara stood next to me, chewing her nails. Lady Kingston entered the room, practically strutting, and stopped in front of us. She squared her shoulders and held her head up.

'I am afraid that the events of last night will change out living situation. Our finances will no longer stretch to accommodate you. We will have to live without the luxury of servants.' She said, and she made it sound like she was the worst one off in this situation. My heart stopped. We were all being let go. I would have to leave the place I had lived in for three years of my life. Some of my happiest memories were here, and we were being thrown out without a hint of regret.

'I expect you all to be out of my house by the end of the day.' She then swiftly turned on her heel and walked out, leaving us all to stare after her in shock.

I wanted to scream. I could not lose my job, we needed the money to much. And it was not just that, I had been here for three years, I had memories in this house, attachments to it. She could not just throw us out like yesterdays rubbish. It was too unfair. The small bud of hatred that had taken seed inside me was starting to grow, and I had to keep a tight grip on my rage, I could feel it building inside of me.

I returned to my room, and saw Miss Ella still asleep. I quietly started to pack my bag. It did not take very long, I did not own very much. I went to the table with the basin on it, to pick up my small bag containing ribbons and hair pins. My hip caught the side of the table, which caused the jug to wobble, making a loud sound. Ella woke up at that. Her eyes were wide with surprise for a minute, but then her face fell, remembering the events of the previous night.

'I'm sorry for waking you.' I said, my voice shaking slightly.

'It's alright.' She replied, then saw my open bag on my bed. 'What are you doing.'

'Lady Kingston just fired all of us. We have to leave by the end of the day.' Ella sat there shocked.

'It's just so unfair!' I exclaimed. 'I've worked here for so long, I do not want to leave!' I sat down on the bed, annoyed, upset and angry.

'No, surely she would not do that. Why would she do this?' Miss Ella asked.

'She said that with your Father gone, they do not have enough money to keep us on.'

'That cannot be true, we have never been in any financial trouble before.' This was meant kindly, but I only took it to make me more annoyed at 'Her Ladyship'

Ella stopped for a moment, and then looked questioningly at me.

'Did you say Lady Kingston? She is Lady Cecil.' She asked,

'No, she told me to call her Lady Kingston again.' Ella's face fell even more. By changing her name, 'Lady Evil' (as I was now going to call her) had already distanced herself from her late husband, and by extension, Ella. I could not believe that this woman could be so cold hearted. I had never before hated anyone, but seeing Ella's face, and the hurt in her eyes pushed me over the edge.

I could not stand it any longer.

I told Ella I would be back in a minute, and marched out of the room. If I was already fired, she couldn't do anything else to me. I stormed into the dining room, to find Lady Kingston and Lady Anna sat sewing. They both looked up when I came in.

'How could you?!' I shouted at her. 'Miss Ella has just lost her Father, and now you get rid of all of us. You are taking her away from people who care about her. And we have worked at this house for a long time, longer than you have been here, you cannot just toss us out like objects. The master would never have done this to us, and you shame his memory by doing so. You do not even have the basic decency to keep the Cecil name, just so Miss Ella has some family left, how could you be so cruel?!'

I tried to stop shouting, but the words came out of my mouth unconsciously.

'And another thing, your husband died, are you so unfeeling you cannot even feel a little grief. Did you care for him at all, you stone cold monster? Did you?'

Lady Kingston did not say a word, her mouth became a tight line as she stared at me in rage.

'Answer me!'

I stared right back at her, willing her to break eye contact. My attention was grasped by a small noise by the door. I turned and saw Ella standing there, more tears streaming down her face as she looked at Lady Kingston.

'Did you love him?' She asked quietly.

Lady Kingston stood in front of me, she towered over me. Her eyes were as cold and unfeeling as stone. I refused to back down. Then she said in a quiet voice,

'Get out of my house. Now.'

I smiled at her and gave her an over exaggerated curtsey.

'I would be happy to, who would want to stay here with you?'

'You think so much of yourself. You think you are so high and mighty. You have done nothing to deserve it, and you would do good to remember that. Some accident of birth placed you there, but that does not give you the authority to hate the rest of us for not sharing your luck. One day, you will learn to regret your actions, and I hope that day comes soon. You bitch.'

'Oh and Anna, your hair looks awful, like it always does.'

I turned around and proudly walked out of the door, leaving the two ladies staring after me, Lady Anna's mouth agape.


I finished packing my bag and went to go and collect my siblings from their room. They were packed, but looked very downcast. They had only been here for two months, but I think they had become attached to the place. I told them to hurry, we had to leave now. I did not want to know what would happen if Lady Kingston saw me still in the house.

We carried our bags down to the kitchen and said our goodbyes to Mrs Pole and Mrs Taylor, who were sat at the kitchen table, trying to console each other over a cup of tea. I embraced both of them, I knew it was not goodbye forever, they both had family in the village and so would not be very far away. There was no need to say anything, we were all feeling the same emotions; grief, frustration, anger at the injustice of it. I felt slightly better now I had shouted at her ladyship.

We left the kitchen and walking to the gate, when we were stopped by Miss Ella.

'Marion, wait.' She called.

I turned around, and she ran and embraced me.

'You have to promise to visit me.'

'I do not think that is a good idea, your stepmother does not like me very much anymore.'

'Well, then I will come and see you. It will be lonely now, without Father and you.' She said, with tears in her eyes. I felt very sorry for her, and I wished I could be there for her.

'I'd like that very much.'

'I also think you should have this.' She said pulling a book out of her skirt pocket. I recognised the volume as 'The Tales of Robin Hood'

'Oh, Miss, I couldn't possibly, it's your book.'

'I insist, and there is no need to call me Miss anymore, You're not our maid anymore, we're friends.' She told me, placing the book in my hand. 'And anyway, you've read it more times than me, and certainly enjoy it more. And who here is going to miss it.' I hugged her again, accepting the book.

'Thank you very much Mi- Ella' She smiled, but I could tell she was not happy, she was still desperately hurt. 'I look forward to your visits.' She nodded, and I turned away to join my siblings and we walked away from the manor house.