Marple and the Chartists 9

January, 1843

I did my usual morning chores at the Hall, and instead of leaving just after lunch at 12.30 to go to school, I said to Mrs. Hood, the cook, that I would like to see Mrs. Isherwood and speak with her if I could.

“She has gone from the house and will be away several days,” she said.

“Is Mr. Isherwood at home?” I asked.

“Yes, I think so, but surely you do not want to be speaking to him. He does not deal with the servants, Mrs. Isherwood does. He won’t appreciate you disturbing him.”

“I am prepared to take that chance. Could you please find out if he will see me?”

So with tightly pressed lips Mrs. Hood went to the study where Mr. Isherwood spent most of his time, and knocked on the door, and after a moment or two was asked to come in. She was away no more than five minutes, and looked most annoyed when she said, “He has agreed to see you for a moment or two. But mind you, don’t vex him. He doesn’t feel at all well today.”

So I bucked up my courage, and went to the study and knocked on the door. “Come,” he said.

“And so I see you again, little Eliza Hyde. Are you here to discuss the terms of selling your project to me already? I hope your teacher was as pleased with it as I was.”

I couldn’t help myself. I burst into tears. He looked most put out, and obviously didn’t know how to deal with me. Finally I controlled myself enough to say, “She burnt it. She said it was all lies that I had made up and she wouldn’t let me have it as a play for the class. And when I refused to change it and called her a name, she expelled me from school. And then when my Mother told me I had to apologise to her and beg to be taken back into school, and I refused, she told me I had to get a full time job. She doesn’t want me at home anymore.” At this I couldn’t contain myself any longer and sobbed uncontrollably.

“Now, don’t let on so, Little Eliza. I am sure if Mrs. Isherwood were here she would offer you a full time job with us. And I don’t see why I can’t do so on her behalf. Welcome to our staff, Eliza. My wife should be back by the end of the week, so we can’t do anything official before then, but I will tell her that you are to be a full time maid with us from next week. I’m sure something will be arranged for you to share a room with one of the other maids. I am very sorry to hear that your teacher treated your project with such disdain and burnt it. I do fully understand why you were so upset, and I applaud your standing up for your rights. I am only sorry that your project is no longer available for me to buy, but I hope that you will find the time to redo it, and then of course I will honour my pledge to you.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Isherwood. I will promise you I will be a good maid for you, and I will try to do the project again.”

“That’s a good girl. Now I think you had better leave me, as I have a splitting head. On your way out could you ask Cook to come in again? I will need her to find my medicine for me.”

So I did as I was asked, and then not knowing what else to do, I went home.

My mother was still sore angry with me, but when I told her Mr. Isherwood had promised me a full-time live-in job at the Hall, she mellowed a bit.

“That was very good of him. But of course it is Mrs. Isherwood who must make the domestic arrangements. You say she is away at the moment. As soon as she is back, you must go and confirm it all with her. But as for now, you can, of course, stay here with us until the arrangements are made for you to move to the Hall. And you can make yourself useful in the meantime. I think all the windows, inside and out, could do with a good cleaning.”

What a comedown, cleaning our small windows after being used to doing the huge stained glass ones at the Hall, but knowing that my mother’s softened mood might be short-lived, I did as good a job on them as I would have done if they were as beautiful and fancy as the ones at the Hall.

When Mrs. Isherwood returned later in the week, I was able to see her and confirm with her my new status. I would be paid £30 a year. She confirmed that Mr. Isherwood had spoken with her of the situation. I was so pleased that he had remembered and thought it important enough to put it to her, considering how bad his head had been that day. So on Sunday after church, I packed up my meager belongings, and walked to Marple Hall as a grown up, no longer a child. I was welcomed by Eliza Gerrard who as the next youngest female would share her room with me. And I started a new chapter in my life.

Things progressed, and my jobs at the Hall became more responsible and more difficult. As I was now a full-time employee I had to start my day at five a.m. not eight as had been the case until now. And often I was still working late at night. But I did enjoy my work and got on well with the other servants. They knew I pulled my weight in terms of work, and they weren’t jealous of Mrs. Isherwood’s kindness to me, as she was kind to all of us.

February soon came, and one Saturday Mrs. Isherwood called me into the morning room where she had been going over the menus for the week with Mrs. Hood, the cook.

“Eliza, I know that you have never served as a lady’s maid, but I would like to you take on that job for me temporarily. You see, I am called to Chester as a witness in the Assizes case against the Chartists, and I thought it would be good for you to have an opportunity to be there with me as you and I were involved together in this situation from the start. I will have Matilda give you the basic instructions of how you will need to deal with me over the next day or so. And then we will leave by carriage on Tuesday. The trial starts on Thursday, and I don’t know at what stage I will be called into the witness box, so I must be there and available.”

“Oh, Madam, I have never been to Chester, or even Manchester. I have never really been out of Marple unless you call a trip to Disley that. I would love to go. I will do ever such a good job of being your maid, I promise. But, are you going to speak against Johnny, then?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I am going to speak in his defence. I feel I owe it to him. I know you are somewhat worried by him, as he sent you that threatening note a few months back, but you will be safe with me. I am hoping that he will get off with a minimum sentence, perhaps only just a fine. But we shall see. Now we are going to be staying with my friends the Yorks. They live at Erdigg Hall outside Wrexham, (pictured above)  twelve miles south of Chester. But now, go and spend the rest of today and tomorrow with Matilda so you can see how she does her job of being my maid.”

“Oh, thank you ma’am. Do you know how long we will be away? I should tell my parents in case they wonder at my not going home for my day off.”

“I would hope the trial will be over within a day or so, but one cannot count on that. Say that you might be gone up to a week, and then they won’t worry. And if we are back sooner, you can go and tell them that you have arrived back safe and sound, and let your sister know the verdict.”

Matilda, although her nose was somewhat out of joint for not being the one accompanying Mrs. Isherwood, told me that she had been given a holiday while we were gone. She would be traveling in the coach with us as far as Wrexham and then she would go on to Llangollon where she has a sister. She comes from Newton near Cardiff, but that would be too far to go on on this occasion. Mrs. Isherwood would send her a letter when we knew we were due to return, and she would make her way back to Wrexham for the ride back. She was very excited as she had not been to Wales for several years.

She told me that I must lay out the clothing for Mrs. Isherwood to wear each day - making sure it was clean and not wrinkled. If need be, I must find the ironing room at the Hall we were staying in and get anything that had wrinkled badly, pressed. I must lay out her night things, and hand wash her small clothes each day. I must help her brush her hair each night, and help her put it up on top of head each morning. She told me that Mrs. Isherwood was perfectly capable of doing these jobs herself, and it was only occasionally that she was called on to help. But just in case, she showed me how to do her hair, and how to style it in the way Mrs. Isherwood adopted. I would also be in charge of supplying Mrs. Isherwood with tablets if she felt ill, and cosmetics and such she normally used, and I would have a case with the usual creams and lotions. She told me a bit about the Hall where we will be staying, where the servants are treated with unusual courtesy. I no doubt would have a room found for me with the other servants, so she said she would be pleased to hear what I had to report back after the trip of things which were done differently there.