The Lorimer Line Read Online Free

absolutely forbid it. Two in one house, jabbering together all day long, idle themselves and setting a bad example to the other servants, definitely not!’ John Junius had been a boy in the years when Napoleon Bonaparte was the Bogeyman whose name was used to frighten children into sleep or obedience. The war had been over for sixty years, but Margaret knew that her father had never learned to like the French.
    â€˜I quite agree, Papa,’ she said tactfully. ‘What I suggest is that I should employ a young girl to be trained to my own taste. Marie-Claire could be asked to instruct her at first in such matters as sewing and ironing. She would not expect, of course, to be paid the salary of a lady’s maid until she had acquired the necessary skills.’
    Margaret was never sure whether a consideration of this kind was more likely to persuade her father or irritate him. John Junius Lorimer was probably the richest of Bristol’s rich citizens. He kept not one carriage but two and lived in the grandest mansion in the whole of Clifton. Whenever a subscription list was raised for a purpose which he thought worthy, it was a point of pride that the name of Lorimer should be at its head. His collection of Eastern art was rumoured to be priceless. It had already been promised to the city on his death, with money enough to build a public gallery in which the precious objects could be displayed and admired by the public without charge. And yet Margaret was forced almost every day to listen to her mother’s complaints that she was unable to take her proper place in Bristol society because of her husband’s meanness in such matters as dress and jewellery. Without taking sides in parental disputes, Margaret was tempted on such an occasion as this to use the bait of economy for her own purpose.
    â€˜You talk as though you have the girl already.’ John Junius spoke suspiciously.
    â€˜Naturally I have not engaged her, Papa. But it is true that I have a young girl in mind. I have known her since she was nine years old. Her family was one of those I used to visit in Peel Street.’ It was necessary to hurry over this part of the story. Only with extreme difficulty had Margaret been able to persuade her father that the visiting of sick families in the slums of Bristol was neither dangerous nor unseemly. ‘Her father died in the cholera epidemic. Her mother has been ill for some years. When the Froome flooded in November she lived with Betty for five weeks in a room whose floor was under two feet of water. Now she too has died. Betty has been taken to the workhouse.’
    â€˜Where she will be well looked after.’
    â€˜Where she will be neglected and corrupted,’ said Margaret firmly.
    Her father received this statement in silence. As a hardworking citizen he was bound to assert that the workhouse conferred more benefit than they deserved on those who were unable to support themselves. As a humane man he knew that what Margaret said was true.
    â€˜If you wish merely to find a better home for the child, I can nominate her for the orphanage at Ashley Down,’ he said. ‘Mr Wright has reason enough to know of my interest in his work there.’
    Margaret shook her head.
    â€˜Thank you, Papa, but her twelfth birthday is approaching and she is ready to work. I have been told of the situation proposed for her, and I am horrified by its conditions. She is an intelligent girl, cheerful and clean, and she deserves better.’
    â€˜She is fortunate to have employment offered to her by those who have her interests at heart.’
    â€˜She would be more fortunate to have it offered to her by myself,’ said Margaret.
    She had judged her time well. John Junius had had enough of domestic matters.
    â€˜The engagement of servants is a matter for your mother, not for me,’ he said. ‘Do whatever she thinks is best.’ They both knew that, though there were still formalities