Muddy Boots and Silk Stockings by Julia Stoneham Read Free Book Online

introduced herself.
    ‘I’m Alice Todd,’ Alice responded. ‘Your warden. And this is Mrs Crocker, my assistant.’ Georgina smiled at Rose, said hello to her but did not shake her hand. This, Rose’s expression told Alice, was something Georgina would live to regret. Fred, his eyes fixed approvingly on Georgina, took her suitcases from her brother and was about to carry them into the house when Marion’s voice cut the air.
    ‘’Ere! You!’ she said, indicating the unglamorous clutter of luggage at her feet. Fred knew at once it was him she meant. ‘What about a hand with these ones then!’ Marion stood, implacable, Winnie simpering beside her, as Fred relinquished Georgina’s cases to Lionel and took the weight of the heaviest of Marion’s. Georgina smiled but Marion’s expression was that of a gloating victor. Teetering on stiletto heels, she followed Fred into the farmhouse.
    The meal, planned for six o’clock and despite the stewpan going off the boil several times and the potatoes boilingdry on the paraffin stove, was less than half an hour late.
    Pieces of chicken were doled out onto the plates by Rose, who made a good job of the distribution, managing to save two portions, one for Alice and one for herself, to consume in peace after the girls had been fed. Alice had just invited her charges to help themselves to the vegetables when Hester, flushed with embarrassment, spoke. To begin with no one could quite hear the mumbled words and Alice had to ask her to repeat them.
    ‘No one’s said Grace, Miss,’ Hester mumbled, still almost inaudibly, her face pink with misery. The girls were aghast and several giggled but Rose tapped a plate with her serving spoon and looked at Alice.
    ‘Perhaps you would like to, Hester?’ Alice suggested.
    Hester gathered herself, lowered her head and muttered, ‘For what we are about to receive,’ and then stopped, her lower lip trembling, Winnie and Marion smothering their amusement as the freak made a fool of herself. Then Rose’s voice cut in, sharp and authoritative.
    ‘May the Good Lord make us truly thankful. Amen,’ she concluded, glaring round the table and repeating the ‘amen’ so fiercely that Hannah-Maria, Christine, Georgina and Gwennan all joined her.
    Rose had knowingly shaken her head when Alice had decided to present the mashed potatoes and cabbage in large dishes from which each girl could take what she required. Unfortunately Mabel, Winnie, Marion and Gwennanrequired rather more than their share, so that by the time the dishes reached Hester and Georgina they were almost empty. At subsequent meals Alice would distribute the meat and Rose the vegetables.
    Mabel, Winnie, Marion and Gwennan ate quickly, using pieces of a thickly sliced loaf to soak up the gravy on their plates.
    ‘What’s for afters,’ Mabel enquired with her mouth full. Her bovine frame would always be eager for food.
    ‘Prunes and custard,’ Rose announced.
    ‘Nursery food,’ said Georgina sociably.
    ‘You what?’ Winnie and Marion looked genuinely curious.
    ‘Prunes and custard,’ Georgina repeated politely. ‘What my brother and I always called nursery food because…’ She looked around at the eyes which were observing her, some hostile, some amused. ‘Because we used to eat that kind of thing in our nursery,’ she finished lamely.
    ‘Eew!’ said Marion, inaccurately imitating Georgina’s accent, ‘Eeen the narsery, what? La-di-da-di-dah!’ Winnie, reacting to Alice’s obvious disapproval, nudged her mate and told her to hush up.
    ‘Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor,’ chanted Christine, happily counting her prune stones. ‘I’ll need four, ’cos my Ron’s a sailor! Minesweepers, he’s in. We’re gonna save up all our pay so when the war’s over we’ll have enough for a place of our own!’
    ‘Isn’t that lovely!’ said Marion sarcastically. Winnie giggled.
    ‘Love’s young dream!’ she added, with her mouth full. For a while no one spoke and