advantageous for a dairy . As instructed by Daniel she unlaced her boots and carried them in her left hand whilst under her arm she carried her pattens. Her right hand she used to guide her way. She remembered his directions as clearly as if he spoke them at her side as she walked,
‘ Keep your hand out and use it to feel the walls as you walk,’ he had said, ‘Objects stored on the floor are more likely to be placed at an edge of a wall or cupboard. By using your arm it keeps you centre and therefore less likely to knock over something.’ She felt for the marble top of the workbench with its chiselled gullies filled with cold water to keep the marble cool. Her finger tips touched the cold smooth stone used as a work surface for the shaping of butter and cheese and made her way out into the corridor. As Daniel had suspected, the moonlight shone through the windows of the next rooms leading onto the servant’s passageway. When there was no moonlight he used the smells emanating out of each doorway to know which room he was passing. In the hustle and bustle of the day Janey had not noticed the different smells but now, in this quiet abandoned part of the building, she used her sense of smell to guide her too. She could smell the baking room with its bread and spices, which gave way to the meat room with its hanging smoked hams, game and pork. She continued along, her fingertips following the line of the wall, highlighting the recesses of the doors that were left open onto the corridor. She made her way into the smaller of the two main kitchens, where vegetables were cleaned and prepared in the manor’s hey day when two kitchens were required. Now it was rarely used. This room led into the main kitchen which, in the stillness of the night, was now eerily silent. Large copper pans of different sizes hung from the wall and everything clean and in its place, in preparation for the day to begin. Janey hurried on and started to climb the female servant’s stone stairs. The first flight took her past the corridor leading to the main reception and living rooms. The second flight led off to the nursery play room, school room and the family bedrooms. She hesitated. They were last used when James was a child. Since then they too had been abandoned and unused. It was as if this house was dying a little more each year that passed. Daniel had told her how once, as a teenager, he had entered these rooms. She imagined him now looking at the abandoned toys with no child to play with them. Toys and evidence of a spoilt carefree life he had never had as a young boy. Her heart twisted for his lost childhood.
She carried on up to the attic rooms and once again used her fingertip touch to count the doors off the corridor . Here there were no windows and moonlight to guide her way but she had become confident in her midnight exploration, thanks to Daniel’s advice. She counted the doors until she came to her own, reached down, turned the handle and slipped inside. She soon found her candle and lit it, breathing a sigh of relief to see her familiar things about her. She was safe at last and undetected. She lifted her candle and took it to the mirror that hung from a nail on the wall. The candlelight cast shadows that danced around the room but her image remained clear. She had never seen herself so untidy before, always neat in appearance, the woman that stared back at her looked dishevelled, with messy hair, dirt on her dress and rosy cheeks. She looked like she had spent the day working in the fields rather than attending a country dance. Yet there was something else different about her image that unnerved her. There was wildness in her eyes, an excitement that she did not recognise. It was as if the woman in the mirror was just a body but her eyes showed a spirit threatening to escape. A part of her soul that had lain dormant but was about to ignite. Janey did not know this woman and it frightened her. She blew out the candle and her
‘ Keep your hand out and use it to feel the walls as you walk,’ he had said, ‘Objects stored on the floor are more likely to be placed at an edge of a wall or cupboard. By using your arm it keeps you centre and therefore less likely to knock over something.’ She felt for the marble top of the workbench with its chiselled gullies filled with cold water to keep the marble cool. Her finger tips touched the cold smooth stone used as a work surface for the shaping of butter and cheese and made her way out into the corridor. As Daniel had suspected, the moonlight shone through the windows of the next rooms leading onto the servant’s passageway. When there was no moonlight he used the smells emanating out of each doorway to know which room he was passing. In the hustle and bustle of the day Janey had not noticed the different smells but now, in this quiet abandoned part of the building, she used her sense of smell to guide her too. She could smell the baking room with its bread and spices, which gave way to the meat room with its hanging smoked hams, game and pork. She continued along, her fingertips following the line of the wall, highlighting the recesses of the doors that were left open onto the corridor. She made her way into the smaller of the two main kitchens, where vegetables were cleaned and prepared in the manor’s hey day when two kitchens were required. Now it was rarely used. This room led into the main kitchen which, in the stillness of the night, was now eerily silent. Large copper pans of different sizes hung from the wall and everything clean and in its place, in preparation for the day to begin. Janey hurried on and started to climb the female servant’s stone stairs. The first flight took her past the corridor leading to the main reception and living rooms. The second flight led off to the nursery play room, school room and the family bedrooms. She hesitated. They were last used when James was a child. Since then they too had been abandoned and unused. It was as if this house was dying a little more each year that passed. Daniel had told her how once, as a teenager, he had entered these rooms. She imagined him now looking at the abandoned toys with no child to play with them. Toys and evidence of a spoilt carefree life he had never had as a young boy. Her heart twisted for his lost childhood.
She carried on up to the attic rooms and once again used her fingertip touch to count the doors off the corridor . Here there were no windows and moonlight to guide her way but she had become confident in her midnight exploration, thanks to Daniel’s advice. She counted the doors until she came to her own, reached down, turned the handle and slipped inside. She soon found her candle and lit it, breathing a sigh of relief to see her familiar things about her. She was safe at last and undetected. She lifted her candle and took it to the mirror that hung from a nail on the wall. The candlelight cast shadows that danced around the room but her image remained clear. She had never seen herself so untidy before, always neat in appearance, the woman that stared back at her looked dishevelled, with messy hair, dirt on her dress and rosy cheeks. She looked like she had spent the day working in the fields rather than attending a country dance. Yet there was something else different about her image that unnerved her. There was wildness in her eyes, an excitement that she did not recognise. It was as if the woman in the mirror was just a body but her eyes showed a spirit threatening to escape. A part of her soul that had lain dormant but was about to ignite. Janey did not know this woman and it frightened her. She blew out the candle and her
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