The Victory Garden(37)

“There’s a copper in the kitchen,” Alice said cheerfully. “We can heat water in that to wash with, but no lav? Maybe it’s outside.”

They went to look, and it was—an afterthought tacked on to the house beyond the back door.

“I won’t fancy going out here at night,” Alice said. “I hope they have jerries.”

“Jerries?” Emily looked confused.

“Chamber pots, love,” Alice chuckled. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever had to use one with nice indoor plumbing, but the rest of us, we’re used to jerries.”

“Goodness,” Emily said, thinking of having to use a chamber pot with other women in the house.

“Well, we’d better get to work, or I think that old lady will have something to say,” Alice said. “Come on. Let’s face the music.”

They walked back up the hill.

“What should we start on first?” Daisy asked.

“I think it had better be the lawn,” Emily said. “It’s been fine weather for a while, so the scything and mowing should be done while the grass is dry.”

“I wasn’t any good at scything,” Alice said. “Nearly took me blooming feet off a couple of times.”

“Daisy was, weren’t you?” Emily said. “She got the hang of it right away.”

“Yes. I wasn’t bad, was I?” Daisy blushed at the praise.

“Right, Daisy, you scythe, and we’ll rake and bundle, and then we’ll take turns with the mower. I rather think it will take two of us to push it. It looks awfully heavy.”

It was indeed hard work trying to push the mower. Simpson told them that he had oiled it, but even so, it took two of them to propel it over a lawn choked with weeds. They worked solidly for a couple of hours, and by the time the church clock had struck twelve, they had mowed a patch of lawn at the front of the house.

“I wonder what time dinner is,” Daisy said. “I’m awful hungry.”

“Let’s go and see,” Emily said. She led the others towards the front door and rang the bell. It was opened by a thin little woman with a sharp, foxy face and sandy hair now streaked with grey. Her small dark eyes darted nervously.

“Yes, what do you want?” she demanded.

“We wanted to know if it’s time for our lunch yet,” Emily said. “We’re the land girls who have come to work for Lady Charlton. We were told we’d be taking our meals at the big house.”

“I know who you are,” the woman said. “And you’ve got a nerve, showing up at the front door. You go round the back to the tradesman’s entrance. I’m not having you traipsing in mud across my nice clean floors.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Emily said, flushing at this onslaught. They made their way around the house to where a door had been opened for them. The woman was standing there. “Make sure you wipe your feet properly,” she said. “Mud scraper’s to the left.”

“We don’t actually have much mud on us,” Emily said. “It hasn’t been raining and the grass was quite dry.”

“Hark at Miss Hoity-Toity there,” the woman said. “Well, come on in then. I’ve put bread and cheese out for you on the kitchen table.”

“Are you the cook?” Emily asked, trying to appear friendly.

“I am Mrs Trelawney, the housekeeper,” the woman said. “These days, I also cook for Her Ladyship myself, and take care of her. We’re down to one maid, Ethel, and she’s getting on in years, too. But it’s only Her Ladyship in the house, so most of it’s closed off.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs Trelawney,” Alice said. “I’m Alice Adams, and these two are Daisy and Emily. And we appreciate you getting a meal for us.”

This seemed to do the trick. The expression of hostility softened a little. “I’ve no doubt it’s hard work out there,” she said. “I think we might have a bit of pork pie to go with the cheese, and some good pickled cabbage, too, that I put up before the war started.”

The meal was washed down with a big stoneware mug of tea.

“And we need bedding for the cottage,” Emily said. “Do we get that from you?”

“I’ll see what we have to spare in the linen cupboard and have it out by the time you come for your supper at six,” Mrs Trelawney said. “Make sure you come here nice and prompt because I have to serve Her Ladyship her dinner at seven thirty, and I don’t want you under my feet then.”

“If I was the old lady, I wouldn’t want to live with her,” Daisy muttered as they went back to work. “She’s got a face that could curdle milk.”

“She wasn’t overly friendly, was she?” Emily said. “You’d think she’d welcome company, stuck there alone all day.”

They went back to the scything and mowing, and by six o’clock they had made good progress on the front lawn. Their supper was shepherd’s pie and runner beans from the kitchen garden, followed by rice pudding. They were all feeling comfortably full by the time they went down to the cottage carrying sheets, blankets and pillows.

“Why don’t you take the room upstairs,” Alice said. “I expect you’d like a bit of privacy.”

“So I’ll be the first to know if the roof leaks?” Emily teased.