The second floor of the Abbott house is not just bedrooms and water closets! Mrs. Abbott has her own sitting room off her bedroom, and Mr. Abbott has a beautiful library, lined with enough books to keep a person reading forever. There is also a big room lined with hollow rods heated with steam. Comforters and towels are kept warm there, and we must place them in the bedrooms in the evening, ready for the family. The children’s nurses collect the nursery supplies early in the evening for their baths. Sometimes I hear the children laughing. I love hearing that happy sound.
Along with making a dozen beds in the morning we must carry the chamber pots down the servant’s stairway and empty them at a spot well away from the house. The bed linen is changed every week, although we are sometimes told to do it more frequently. Each room must be dusted and aired, the carpet swept and flowers tended. If the weather turns bad we must rush about and shut the windows.
Yesterday I was finishing the carpet sweeping and I heard someone whistling “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” at the door. I knew without turning around who it was.
“Master Angus,” I whispered, keeping my head down and dropping a curtsey, “Is there something you need?’
“I just wanted to look at your pretty face, Jean,” he said, “Besides, I’m bored and looking for some company.”
“Sir, I must get back to my duties. Please excuse me.” He was gone whistling down the hallway.
I’ve never thought of myself as pretty. Seeing no one else about I looked in the big mirror next to the dresser. Light brown hair to be sure, braided and wound around my head, blue eyes like the rest of my family, nothing special. I suppose I am tall, more tall than many of the maids here, but he is taller than me.
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