The Downstairs Maid Read Online Free

bed, Emily tried to stop thinking and go to sleep, but she couldn’t forget what Ma had said. Until now she hadn’t realised there were people who would guide an old man’s hand just to get his money. It struck Emily as being more than unkind; it was wicked and Pa ought to do something about it, because Miss Concenii shouldn’t get away with it.
    Yet in her heart she knew that Pa was too gentle a man to do something like that and she felt sad again. If people didn’t stand up for themselves, others just walked all over them. Uncle Albert had been kind to Emily and he’d thought enough of her to give that ring to the lawyer for her – and she hadn’t liked Miss Concenii, who was
no better than she ought to be
.
    Perhaps she was a bit like her mother, Emily thought, because if she’d been in Pa’s shoes she would have gone after that woman and made her admit what she’d done.
    It was too difficult a problem for a ten-year-old girl to work out. Sighing, she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.

Chapter 2
    It was nearly three weeks after the quarrel over Uncle Albert’s money when Ma had the miscarriage. Because Pa had money in his pocket, Emily was at the vicar’s school and the first she knew about it was when she arrived home at half past two in the afternoon, to find there was no sign of her mother and the kitchen looking a mess. She called out a couple of times and heard sounds from upstairs. She was just clearing some dirty dishes into the deep stone sink when her father came downstairs. Emily turned to look at him and was disturbed to see how drawn he looked. He saw her but didn’t smile in his usual way, just sat down in his old wooden rocking chair next to the stove and buried his head in his hands.
    Emily felt a thrill of fear. She took two steps towards him and then stopped uncertainly.
    ‘What’s wrong, Pa?’ she asked. ‘Where is Ma – is she ill?’
    ‘She’s not feeling very clever at the moment,’ he said, looking up at her. She was stunned as she saw the expression of despair in his eyes. Pa never looked like that no matter how bad things were. ‘Your Ma’s lost the baby, Em. It was lucky I was here to get her upstairs. I sent Bert for the doctor but he was out visiting another patient. By the time he got here, three hours after Bert went for him, it was too late … He was sorry but there was nothing he could do …’
    ‘Oh Pa …’ Emily’s throat was tight and she was sad that her mother had lost the new baby. How could you lose a baby when it wasn’t even here? At least, Emily hadn’t seen it. ‘I don’t understand properly …’
    ‘Come here, love,’ he said and opened his arms. She crawled on to his lap and he kissed the top of her head. ‘It’s time you understood these things, Em. The new baby was in your Ma’s tummy – or her womb, as it’s properly called. It shouldn’t have come out for another four months.’
    ‘Is that why she looked fatter?’ Emily asked and he nodded. ‘How did it get in there?’
    ‘Your Ma and me, we made the baby between us. It’s called loving and you’ll understand that bit when you grow up and get married, but you need to know that losing the baby has made your Ma ill.’
    ‘I’m sorry Ma is ill. What can I do?’
    ‘You were starting to clear up when I came down. You’ll have to do that for a while, Em. It means no school for at least a couple of weeks, perhaps longer.’
    Emily’s heart sank but she didn’t let her father see she was upset. It was her place to look after her mother while she was ill and she would. Besides, she would have done anything to take that sad, defeated look from her father’s face.
    ‘It wasn’t your fault, Pa. You didn’t make Ma lose the baby.’
    He was silent for a moment, then, ‘In a way it was, Em. You see your Ma could have married anyone. She was pretty the way you are – all dark hair and eyes too big for your face. I promised her I’d be rich one day and she believed me, but