Auntie Mayhem by Mary Daheim Read Free Book Online

they traipsed along a paneled corridor. Harwood was coming through a door, looking as if he were about to collapse. He gave Claire a deferential nod in passing.
    Claire hesitated, her eyes flitting from cousin to cousin. “Oh! That bag was…?” Renie waggled a hand. Claire looked relieved. “Then this is your room… Renie .” The nickname tumbled off her tongue as if she were tasting it to make sure it wasn’t too spicy. Claire indicated the door across the wide corridor. “This is yours, Judith. Ordinarily, we have five extra rooms, but with Alexei and Natasha spending the weekend, we have only three. I hope they’ll do. Unfortunately, there are just two baths on this floor. I’ve already spoken with Alex and Nats about sharing.”
    The cousins agreed that sharing was fine. Each of their appointed bedrooms was large, airy, and full of furniture that looked as if it should be housed in a museum. Renie had a nineteenth-century sleigh bed; Judith’s curtained and canopied four-poster probably had come with the house.
    Trying to contain their elation at such luxury, the cousins bounded back and forth between the elegant bedrooms. Claire, however, was apologetic.
    â€œThings are not what they once were,” she lamented. “Auntie has had to cut staff. Or, I should say, not replace them. Harwood and Auntie’s maid, Dora, are all that’s left of the old servants. Dora’s very frail, and Harwood’s never been the same since his knee was shattered at Messina during the Second World War. But of course the family was elated to get him back after he was invalided out of the service. The war took a terrible toll on the servant class. They wanted to do other things after demobilization. It’sbeen very hard on people like Aunt Pet. Nowadays, we have to make do with Mrs. Tichborne, the housekeeper, and dailies from Great Pauncefoot. The same is true with the gardeners. The Beaker brothers come only once a week. Luckily, there are four of them.”
    Judith was still smiling. “No problem, Claire. The only help I have at Hillside Manor is a cleaning woman, Phyliss Rackley. She’s a daily, too. I guess.” Phyliss, with her fundamentalist credo and rampant hypochondria, was sometimes a daily pain in the neck. But she worked hard, and Judith couldn’t run the B&B without her.
    Harwood had reappeared, staggering down the corridor with Judith’s brown suitcase. Figuring him for over seventy, Judith at first wanted to offer to carry the luggage for him. But she realized the man had pride; a simple thankyou tumbled from her lips as he wheezed into the bedroom.
    â€œBy the way,” Judith said, going to her suitcase, “we brought you a couple of small hostess gifts from home.” She rummaged through her belongings, finally hauling out an assortment of Moonbeam’s exotic coffee beans and three boxes of Fandangos, Donner & Blitzen Department Store’s prized chocolate truffles. The presents had been intended for Margaret, but it was only fitting to hand them over to Claire.
    â€œOh! Thank you!” Looking somewhat bewildered, Claire juggled the bags and boxes. “That’s ever so kind! Charles will be delighted.” Still appearing ill-at-ease, she suggested that the cousins rest a bit before luncheon.
    Renie demurred. “Rest? From what? Sitting on our dead duffs? We can eat any time as far as I’m concerned.”
    â€œWell…” Claire seemed flustered. “I’m not sure when Charles will get back from his appointment. And I don’t know where Nats is.”
    â€œNats?” Judith recalled the earlier reference. “That’s…who? Another cousin?”
    Claire nodded. “Natasha Karamzin, Alexei’s sister. I had no idea they were coming down for the weekend until they arrived this morning in Alex’s car. I hope you don’t mind. They’re rather engaging. Once you get used