Pearls

The day had not started well. Rose had been in a terrible mood and had slapped Lucy twice on the face and once on the arm.

Lucy bore it as best she could, she had been a servant for House Griffiths since she was 8. She’d started out in the kitchens before her hard work (And for that read ‘her ability to survive the vileness of Mistress Bellows) had seen her ‘promoted’ to house maid, where she seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning ashes from various grates, and finally to the very prestigious role as Personal Maid to Lady Griffiths. She was not Lady Griffiths only Personal Maid, no, she had some quite fancy girls come and work for her. There was Francesca who was distantly related to some Title and had been schooled in the art of dressing, she tended to Rose’s hair, make up and dresses. Lucy envied Francesca. Francesca with the neat and fashionable brown hair and prettily made up skin. Then there was Margaret, who was really more of a social maid, she was the daughter of a less important Lord and she basically was paid to be nice to Rose and keep her company, a companion if you like. They spent a lot of time giggling and sharing secrets.

So what did Lucy do? Tended to all Rose’s less gentile needs and pretended that she didn’t exist, because what Lady needed her bedpan emptying or her hair held back if she’d drunk too much and had to be sick? Or even when she bled everywhere and Lucy had to hunt the floors between the bed and the bathroom looking for small yet pernicious spots or scrub the toilet bowl because it hadn’t all gone down as it should?

So there was a lot that Lucy didn’t enjoy about her job, but there was one thing she enjoyed, wearing Rose’s pearl necklace.

Rose had been given an absolutely stunning pearl necklace from Lord Berington for her sixteenth birthday. She was too young yet but everyone talked about how he’d probably propose when she came of age. Lucy didn’t engage with that kind of gossip, it made absolutely no difference to her what happened to those in charge, they barely knew she existed so what was the point of filling her brain pointlessly with the minutia of their trivial lives.

The necklace was perfect, it held the neatest, shiniest, and most perfect pearls in a beautiful golden clasp. When Rose put it on it sat precisely as it should, it curved gracefully around her neck and lay languorously across her décolletage. Lucy had seen her wear it, only briefly whilst she was preparing for a ball. Rose had sat in front of her mirror whilst Francesca fussed her hair and Margaret chattered idly by her side and Rose simple beamed, she was like some ethereal angel, suddenly transmuted to earth to bring all those around her to awe.  

After that the pearl necklace simply became a figment of fantasy, Lucy went back to the daily grind of bed pans, cleaning and pretending not to exist.

‘Lucy!’Now Lucy was almost never addressed, much less by name so she didn’t respond for ages trying to work out whether it could possibly be her being called. Since no other Lucys appeared, she scrambled up off her knees where she had been cleaning up the ashes from yet another fire and went quickly into the main bedroom where Rose was sat imperiously at her dressing table with Francesca fluffing and fussing around her like some errant moth.

‘Yes Lady Griffith?’

‘I have a job for you to do. Explain it to her Franny, if you would.’

‘Of course.’Francesca said politely, her tone instantly changed as she addressed me. ‘We need you to wear the pearl necklace.’

Lucy couldn’t hide the confusion on her face. Francesca sighed as though this was all patently obvious.

‘Pearls need oils in order to improve their lustre, they actually look better over time once they have been worn. Lady Griffith’s necklace is new and so needs to be worn much much more. She can’t be expected to do it herself, so we need you to do it. You have a high neck on your dress, it’ll be tucked out of sight and perfectly safe. Won’t it?’

Rose had been watching Lucy all this time, Lucy looked up and caught her eye, something seemed to pass between them.

‘You would be doing me a very great favour Lucy.’ Her voice was suddenly soft, she had never spoken like this to her.

‘Yes Lady Griffith.’

Lucy turned obediently and dropped her head forward so the back of her neck was exposed. Francesca walked over, her shoes tapping sharply on the floorboards. She draped the necklace over her head and clasped it at the back. She fumbled for a moment and her fingers brushed the bare nape of Lucy’s neck. She felt suddenly lonely. Francesca grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, the necklace hung awkwardly outside her high-necked dress.

‘Tuck it in.’Ordered Francesca and Lucy obliged, she felt the cool, smooth pearls lightly press into her shoulders and chest. It was an odd but pleasant feeling.

‘Don’t tell anyone, for god’s sake, you’ll be murdered in your bed for them.’ Rose laughed at this intensity from Francesca although not unkindly.

‘Carry on then Lucy.’Rose said lightly, and Lucy left.

Lucy lay in her small wooden bed in the attic room which she shared with two other servants, they were fast asleep and Lucy was running her fingers lazily up and down the pearl necklace completely unable to sleep. The small attic window was filled with moonlight and Lucy felt expectant, how could something not happen on such a night as this when she was wearing such a magical and powerful necklace. She felt a fire in her belly and felt bold, as though she were drunk. She had been wearing the necklace for a whole week and Rose had not asked about it or even looked at her since. It was time.

She got out of bed and carefully opened the old door, the corridor was creaky and so were the stairs but no one had stirred by the time she reached the bottom. She stood on the threshold of the servants entrance into the main corridor which lead to Lady Griffith’s room, could she be so brave as to just walk into her room and demand recognition? Yes, she would say, it is me, Lucy, this necklace is worth more then everything I have ever owned or will ever own combined and it is on my skin, no one elses mine! Perhaps the power and the attention she felt she deserved had made her crazy but that didn’t matter to Lucy now, all that matter was that Rose should recognise her, should look her in her eyes and see her.

She pushed open the door, and strode, in her nightgown, down the corridor. Her bare and dirty toes almost disappeared at every step into the plush carpet and the corridor was almost lit by the unearthly gleaming gold, silver and bronze furniture, statues and fittings that lined either side. Her heart pounded in her chest in pure fear (She would surely lose her place if caught) and she gripped the necklace for comfort.

She reached Rose’s familiar door and without hesitation she pushed. There, almost as if she had been waiting for her, was Rose. She’d been caught crossing the room, also in her nightgown, perhaps heading for the toilet. She froze and then relaxed when she saw who it was. ‘Oh Lucy,’ she said, ‘you frightened me.’

Then Rose came to herself and said suspiciously, ‘What are you doing here?’

Lucy had lost all drive and simply gestured towards the necklace which could be seen in the V neck of her nightgown. ‘Your necklace.’

Rose shrugged and laughed.’Don’t worry, I hadn’t forgotten, I won’t accuse you of stealing.’

Lucy didn’t move, and now Rose, who had picked up on this odd mood paused. Then she said slowly, ‘Well shut the door.’

Once inside Lucy moved over to the dressing table and found herself looking into the mirror.

Rose followed her, ‘You know you are quite pretty Lucy; those pearls look lovely on you.’She stood very close to her and looked into the mirror with her. ‘You know you have to do a lot more then just look a bit pretty to get the men these days. They expect a little more.’ Rose reached to the front of Lucy’s nightgown and pulled at the tie that held the V neckline in place. ‘That necklace needs to be seen, you’re covering it up with that old nightgown.’She pulled at Lucy’s nightgown again and then again, pulling it off her shoulders so it pooled just below her breasts which were now exposed in the moonlight and reflected in the mirror.

Rose sighed and looked at her. She looked at her for a very long time. The pearls shone and shone and shone. Then Rose said in a whisper, ‘You better get back to bed you know. Let's check the pearls again tomorrow.’

Lucy struggled to pull her nightgown up and had no memory of how she made it back to bed, but she did, covered in sweat and breathing hard.

They all stood huddled at the top of the hill, they were by the ornamental drive, but none of them had arrived or would leave in carriages. One man had a horse, but everyone else held a small bag in their hands and were committed to walking to the next village. Lucy had an aunt there and she supposed she’d stay with her.

They’d stopped for a rest, some sat, some stood and some smoked but all watched, they watched with still disbelieving eyes at the wreckage.

The smoke still billowed out from the remains of Hartlepool Hall. It could be seen for miles. The Hall had burned for a full three days, so fierce and so entire had the fire been. They said it had begun in the kitchens, to be expected really, Mistress Billows was probably for it. No one had died which was a relief and quite frankly a surprise. Lucy had found the whole thing slightly anti climatic, they’d been informed there was a fire just as Lucy was going to wake Lady Griffith, who as it turned out, could not be found in her bed. And as of yet, was not to be found anywhere. Lucy dutifully followed the other servants out to the gardens where they ambled around for hours, not really sure how to help. There was talk of carrying all the furniture out but it then turned out it was all really over already and the fire had taken it’s hold.

Eventually they were allowed to see if anything had survived of their own personal possessions, of which there was very little that was not smoke damaged and then they were told politely to leave.

So there Lucy stood on the top of the hill with the other servants, blown to the wind it seemed. She placed her hand on her chest and felt the reassuring bumps of the pearls, there was to be some small comfort it seemed.