Chapter 7: Janice learns a lesson

There was a knock on the door connecting my room to Diana's. "Enter," I called.

It was Eleanor, wearing her uniform again. "If you please, Mistress Jane," she said, bobbing a curtsy, "M'Lady would like you to come and bring Annie."

"We will be there directly," I responded, and told Annie to get to her feet.

Diana had that certain look about her which I recognised as that of a woman satisfied. "Jane," she greeted me with a kiss. I could taste what I assumed to be Eleanor on Diana's lips so her new maid had obviously been learning to please her Mistress. "I think we should have the Seamstress make these girls new uniforms." She smiled. "Eleanor, tell the Seamstress we require her services."

"Yes, M'Lady." Eleanor left us to fulfil her task.

"She can make a start on a couple of pretty gowns for you, too. The rest will have to wait until Lord Percy's gift arrives."

In the past year there had been a change in the household staff. Mistress Sharp had been rushing about organising the preparation of food for a large party Lord Barton had arranged when she suddenly keeled over, dead. It was the Seamstress who took over the Housekeeper's position while her assistant assumed the role of Seamstress.

When I had worked in the stillroom, Janice, for that was the name of the new Seamstress, had always treated me with disdain and often downright unpleasantness. It was she who had gleefully reported an imagined infringement of the rules to Mistress Sharp and caused me to have a sore bottom. When Janice arrived, followed by Annie, she gave me a seething look of hatred and jealousy and she barely concealed the smirk on her face.

Diana was quick to notice her attitude towards me and her face coloured with rage. "How dare you behave so? Eleanor, bring the Butler and the Housekeeper to me immediately. You," she said, pointing at Janice, "Do Not Move One Inch." For several minutes, until Johnstone and Roberta Black, the new Housekeeper, joined us, the atmosphere in the room was seething.

"Mistress Black, I required the Seamstress to run up new uniforms for our new maidservants and she deliberately and flagrantly insulted Mistress Jane. That I will not tolerate. Johnstone, did not Lord Barton give instructions that Mistress Jane should be treated with the same respect given to me?"

"Yes, M'Lady, he did so instruct me and I delivered his order to all the staff."

Turning to Janice she demanded, "Did you receive that order?"

Gone was that smirking grin, replaced by a look of sheer terror as she realised she had badly overstepped the mark. Hanging her head, she mumbled, "Yes, M'Lady."

"Speak up child, and look at me."

"Yes, M'Lady," she sobbed, with tears forming in her eyes.

"I will not stand for any, I repeat, any disrespect towards Mistress Jane," said Diana, addressing all three of them. "Is that absolutely clear?"

"Yes, M'Lady," they chorused.

"With your permission, M'Lady," the Housekeeper added, "I will ensure she is properly disciplined."

Diana looked over to me with a mischievous smile on her face. "No, Mistress Roberta, I think we will do this another way. Mistress Jane had been insulted, I think Mistress Jane should administer a punishment suitable to assuage the distress that creature has caused. Jane, would you like to retrieve your whip? You, what is your name?"