It Started with a Scandal Read Online Free PDF Page A

keep his or her job will anyhow,” Elise said pleasantly, but it was etched in steel. “And as you make your bow, kindly state your name and position in the household so that I may come to know you.”
    Their gazes ricocheted among each other like billiard balls. Some kind of silent communication was taking place.
    They all settled on the large woman, who appeared to be the default leader. A position she had perhaps won through arm wrestling.
    “Perhaps later, Mrs. Fountain.” She mimicked Elise’s pleasant tone but managed to make it sound a bit sinister. “We was just takin’ a bit of rest, now, as ye can see.”
    “A rest from what, pray tell?” Elise asked, even more sweetly.
    They were going to outdo each other in fake sweetness.
    “Why, the strain of losing pennies to Ramsey. It fair shreds my nerves, so it does.”
    Judging from the direction all their eyes took, Ramsey was the man with the stack of pennies.
    There was laughter that trailed into coughing when Elise trained her cold eyes on them and quite pointedly did not laugh.
    “Come now, Mrs. Fountain. We came wi’ the house, like. We’re fixtures, like the furniture. We’ve always taken care of it.”
    Fixtures, her hindquarters. They were less a staff than an infestation.
    “Ah, if you’re like the furniture, that must mean you haven’t been cleaned adequately in some weeks?” Elise said this brightly. “Or that perhaps you’re all dim, like the hallways? A bit greasy, like the hearth here in the kitchen?”
    And now five sets of decidedly unfriendly eyes were regarding her with unblinking hostility.
    Elise returned the stare evenly. She was outnumbered but she was angry now, and she was as motionless as a stalking cat. She knew how to intimidate in precisely the same way a cat did. No one knew what a cat was capable of.
    “Heh heh,” one of the maids said uneasily. Some hybrid of laugh and grunt.
    Clearly they couldn’t decide where she got her confidence, and it was the reason, for instance, cats were able to intimidate larger, blustering animals. They possessed surprisingly sheathed pointy ends.
    On the one hand, a good battle was precisely what she needed, and she would be damned if anyone would prevent her from keeping a roof over her head and Jack’s.
    On the other hand, her heart was knocking against her breastbone again. Surely she’d wear it out early at this rate. It hadn’t experienced this much activity since she and Edward . . . though this wasn’t the time to think about that.
    She thought quickly. Lord Lavay had been right about one thing: skilled and loyal servants were rarer than hen’s teeth. But she also knew from experience that hierarchy died hard among servants, and perhaps this lot had simply been jarred loose from the natural order of things through neglect and the absence of someone at the helm, the way old fence posts will start to lean every which way after a time.
    She gave the keys an insinuating jingle.
    “Come now. We servants deserve respect from each other , don’t you think? And respect starts with a bow and a curtsy. Shall we at least begin that way?”
    She looked to the maid who had given the tentative laugh. Her face was pale and pinched beneath a floppy cap, and her eyes were enormous. She looked eager for approbation. She stood and curtsied. “I’m Kitty, mum, Kitty O’Keefe. A parlor maid. Pleased to meet you.”
    Elise nodded serenely and curtsied.
    The man who appeared to be winning all the pennies lumbered to his feet. Tall and lanky, his eyes were pale gray, his nose like the prow of a ship, which lent him some dignity he probably didn’t deserve.
    “Ramsey, William Ramsey. Footman.” He bowed. Hmm. Not a bad bow, really. An elegant footman might be hiding in there somewhere.
    “Mary Tamworth,” said another woman. Fair hair straggled from beneath her cap, and she was tall and angular, with long arms and bony wrists. Perfect for reaching into candle sconces and trimming wicks,