Love or Duty by Roberta Grieve Read Free Book Online Page A

someone to take her place,’ she decided when at last she had calmed down.
    ‘I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Mother. It may only be for a short while and Polly and I can manage between us.’
    Dora gave a little snort of disbelief and Louise felt the familiar churning in her stomach. Well, she’d show Mother that she
could
manage. It was true, she hadn’t much experience of cooking and she wouldn’t be able to match Cook’s delicious pies and pastries. But surely she could produce some sort of meal for them. Clearly Mother was in no state to do so, although privately Louise thought she probably had more knowledge of practical household jobs than she let on. She was sure that Dora, as an impoverished pianist, hadn’t employed servants before she married Father.
    Sarah returned home just as Louise had managed to get Polly sufficiently organized to peel some potatoes for supper. The sight of her sister standing at the big scrubbed table in the kitchen, wrapped in one of Cook’s large white aprons and busily buttering thin slices of bread for Mother’s tea took her aback for a moment. But she soon recovered on being told that she would be allowed to eat her tea in the kitchen – in defiance of Dora’s strict injunction that Cook’s accident must not be an excuse for any slackening of standards on Louise’s part.
    Louise took Dora’s tray up herself, hoping that her stepmother would remain in her room until Father returned from business. Boredom had fled and she found she was, rather guiltily, enjoying the crisis. Sarah, eating her tea in the kitchen and listening round-eyed to Polly’s dramatic description of the accident, seemed to think it was rather fun too, despite her sympathy for poor Cookie.
    When Dr Tate called in on his way back from the hospital his face was grave. Miss Rogers had broken her hip, a very serious injury in a woman of her years. Louise looked startled for a moment. She hadn’t heard Cookie referred to as Miss Rogers for a long time. She had lived with the family for so long, since before Louise had been born, and no one called her by her real name any more. It was sad really, Louise reflected – as if the doctor were talking about someone else. She hastily gave her attention to what he was saying, her heart sinking when he told her it was unlikely Miss Rogers would make a full recovery. She would probably not be able to work again.
    ‘I’m sorry about the meal, Father,’ Louise apologized as they finished their supper of cold meat and pickles with mashed potatoes. ‘It was the best I could do in the circumstances.’
    Stanley looked up from his plate. ‘There’s no need to apologize. It was delicious.’ He took another mouthful and laid his knife and fork neatly on the plate. ‘We must all pull together in a crisis, mustn’t we, my dear?’ He looked across at Dora, who was picking at her food. ‘How long is Cookie going to be laid up?’ he asked.
    Louise had already told him what the doctor had said and her earlier conviction that he hadn’t really been listening was confirmed. It wasn’t like Father to be so vague but she had noticed it a lot lately. His mind always seemed to be elsewhere and she had often caught him sitting at his desk in the study gazing out of the window.
    When Dora answered sharply that she had already informed him of the need to look for a replacement cook, he shook his head. ‘Oh no, my dear, that won’t do at all. We can’t possibly take on someone else.’
    Louise smiled. Father obviously hadn’t understood and thought this was only a temporary hitch in the smooth running of the household. She also knew he had rather a soft spot for Bessie Rogers, not to mention her delicious pastry. Before she could speak however, Dora put him in the picture.
    ‘I thought I had explained, Stanley. Cook will not be coming back. It’s time she retired anyway. I’ll get on to the agency in the morning and start interviewing replacements.’
    ‘I’m