Fyrea's Cauldron. William Maltese

      “Charles, are you all right?” Marie would have been up and out of her chair, or at least calling a servant, but his spell (or whatever it was) was short-lived. He shook his head, as if to clear it, gave a grin of embarrassment, as if he knew he’d been caught at something not quite normal.

      “I’m quite all right,” he told her, pushing back his chair and coming to his feet. “I was telling you not to worry too much about the chaos, wasn’t I?”

      “Something like that.”

      “Just remember to be firm with the staff,” he said, coming around the table to plant his second affectionate kiss of the morning on his wife’s cheek. “The heat spawns a good deal of laziness, but, on the whole, you’ll find most of our people much more energetic than their peers in the villages and city.”

      “I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Marie responded with a smile. What she really wanted, she realized, was for Charles to take her upstairs to bed. However.... “You said you’d have Marc show me the ropes?”

      Marc was the black butler. Thank God, Marie wasn’t going to have to endure any early-morning powwows with the little old lady. She had no immediate desire to confront the old hag with the inappropriateness of that crone having invaded Marie’s sitting room in the dead of the previous night. Although in the light of the morning, Marie wondered if the old woman could really have forbidden her to follow Charles into the hallway. Whatever had taken place last night obviously occurred while Marie was suffering from acute physical and mental exhaustion.

      “I’ll have Marc stand by for as soon you finish breakfast,” Charles said, making his exit. He returned, momentarily, pausing long enough to thrust only his head back into the room. “Have Karena fix a picnic lunch. I’ll get back early enough to enjoy it with you. Okay...?”

      Before Marie could react with obvious pleasure, Charles was gone.

      * * * * * * *

      The management of the household was far from the chaotic state Charles had insinuated. In fact, everything seemed exceptionally well-oiled. Marc seemed pleased, in a very formal way, when informed by Marie that she really had no intentions of making any major waves in standard routine. She did make a request for a formal meeting with each of the servants (excluding the old lady). During the meetings, she took myriad notes, jotting down little things, like how they were two Helenes on the premises. Old Helene, not really old at all, except when taken in comparison to Young Helene, a girl of fifteen.

      Julie, one of the parlor maids, proved the most talkative, dropping all sorts of household gossip, once Marie had skillfully broken down the girl’s reserve: Rolphe, one of the gardeners, was supposedly sweet on Sylvie; Julie preferred one of the stable boys, Theodore; Karena, the cook, had a husband and five children, with hopes, although not yet having broached them with Mr. Camaux, of her eldest daughter eventually being brought into household service.

      Julie proved such a storehouse of useful information that Marie was shocked when she realized it was almost noon. She hadn’t yet informed Karena there would be the need for a picnic lunch for two in only a matter of minutes.

      She began her discussion with the cook, however, by asking about whether Karena knew of the availability of any local girl Marie might train to be a personal maid.

      “I would certainly prefer looking to someone whose references could be vouched by someone already in the household, rather than bring in some complete stranger,” Marie said, remembering the conversation had earlier with Julie about the existence of the cook’s eldest daughter. As expected, Karena immediately jumped at the bait. After Marie agreed to interview Karena’s daughter, the next morning, she, only then, glanced at her watch and delivered an exclamation of well-acted horror. She followed with the confession to Karena that Marie had completely forgotten about the picnic Charles had suggested for their lunch.

      The picnic basket was ready by twelve o’clock.

      Originally, Marie had had intentions of possibly promoting Madeleine to the post of personal maid, but Jannette (Karena’s daughter) obviously came with the advantage of not being one of the inner circles of servants at the house at the time of Marie’s arrival. Marie liked the idea of having someone brought in from the outside even newer than Marie was. Of course, Jannette’s connections with her mother would give that girl access to certain avenues of information not otherwise available to Marie. After all, it was very important for the mistress of any house to know the undercurrents at play in the servants’ quarters if she ever hoped to keep a well-run establishment.