Anna's Return Read Online Free Page B

that. I’ve told her about how you’re a proper little
Cinderella here, and she agrees with me that you deserve to be treated better.”
    Anna reached out and put her hand over Mrs. Palmer’s. “I
know you’ll be kind to me. You always have been.”
    “And always will be. You’ve got a friend in Polly Palmer and
don’t you ever forget that.”
    Anna did forget it, and only a few days later at that.

 
    Chapter Five
     
    Anna had been busy all morning, on account of yet another
servant leaving. Mrs. Palmer had put a postcard in the local shop and asked a
London agency to send someone quickly, but the truth was that Geraldine
Silverton’s behaviour was becoming well known.
    “It’s amazing,” said Mrs. Palmer, as she scrubbed the
kitchen table with salt, whilst Anna was busy in the pantry, washing the
breakfast dishes. They talked through the open door. “Servants have to give
references when they want a job, when really it’s employers who should have to
give them.”
    “What are we going to do?” said Anna. “There’s only me, you
and Mr. Stephens the Butler now, and he’s retiring soon.”
    “It won’t be our problem in a little while, child. We’ll be
off. Elsie has seen a property she likes, and is going to put in an offer on
it.”
    “That will be wonderful,” Anna smiled. “But poor Mr.
Stephens.”
    “Don’t worry about him. I’ve told him he can retire to our
guest house. Mind you, don’t go telling the council. There’s a residency by-law
of twenty-eight days in most places. But if you can’t help an old friend, who
can you help? He’d only have to go to his sister, and they don’t get on very
well. That’s the trouble with this job. It takes your whole life from you the
spits you out when you’re no use anymore.”
    Although Mrs. Palmer was prone to moaning a little, Anna had
never heard her sound so bitter and discontented. She supposed it was because
in the housekeeper’s mind, she was already running the guesthouse. Even for
Anna, every day at Silverton Hall seemed to drag more than ever. “Have you
handed in your notice?” she asked.
    “Yes. The new housekeeper will be arriving in a month. Have
you?”
    “For what reason?” asked Anna. “I’m not really employed. In
fact … could we not say that I’m going until the day we leave? I don’t doubt my
father and stepmother will be glad to get rid of me, but I’m still afraid there
will be bad feeling.” In reality, Anna was terrified that with no servants to
run the place, her father and step-mother might actually force her to stay to
cook and clean for them.
    “This is exactly why I didn’t say anything when I handed in
my notice. I don’t want you stuck here doing everything,” said Mrs. Palmer, as
if she had read Anna’s mind. “But, whilst I hate to say this, dear, I don’t
think your step-mother will be sorry to see you go. I think I know the real
reason she doesn’t want you at the front of the house. It’s because you’ve
grown into such a pretty girl. She’s like the wicked witch in Snow White. She
doesn’t want the competition.”
    Anna could not help laughing, but was also concerned.
“Please be careful, Mrs. Palmer, if she ever hears you…”
    “Oh, what can she do? I’m already leaving and our Elsie
won’t see us out on the street until we get the guesthouse up and running.”
    “Even so, do be careful.” Anna felt a sudden shiver down her
spine as if someone had walked over her grave and a cloud passed across the sun.
She supposed that like Mrs. Palmer, she was eager to be gone from Silverton
Hall, so her fears that it might not happen, or was not happening soon enough,
were overwhelming her. “I’m afraid that even if she can’t hurt you here, she
may do something to harm your chances of running the guesthouse.”
    “Goodness, child, she isn’t that powerful.”
    “I know but…”
    “You’re right of course, and my old mother used to say that
if you can’t say anything nice