Kay Brellend - The Campbell Road Girls

For Susan, Carole, Jackie, Gary – with love.

Table of Contents

Title Page KAY BRELLEND The Campbell Road Girls

Dedication For Susan, Carole, Jackie, Gary – with love.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Read on for the Next Compelling Novel

About the Author

Also by Kay Brellend

Copyright

About the Publisher

‘You can’t mean it!’ Sophy Lovat stared at her youngest sister in astonishment. ‘You’re planning on handing in your notice and going back to Campbell Road? You gone nuts, Lucy Keiver?’

‘Course not. I won’t be there for more’n a few days, not if I can help it,’ Lucy replied defensively. ‘I’ll stop with Mum and Reg just while I’m between things. I can keep Mum company while I’m sorting this out.’ She drew from her serge skirt pocket a piece of paper and, having unfolded the crumpled scrap, scanned the advertisement for an assistant lady’s maid in a mansion in Bloomsbury. ‘Got an interview early next month, and if I get offered the job, I’ll be living in straightaway.’ Lucy could tell her explanation hadn’t impressed her sister. ‘Move back to the Bunk for good?’ she scoffed in an effort to save face. ‘I’m not that daft!’

‘After all I did to get you took on here!’ Sophy protested indignantly. ‘And you’ve done all right for yourself with my help. Out of the kitchen and upstairs in no time at all, weren’t you?’

‘It was different before, when the mistress was still alive.’ The staff at Lockley Grange still called their employer’s late wife ‘the mistress’. His current spouse was referred to as ‘the madam’, and invariably in a disparaging tone.

‘You can’t throw it all in ’cos you’ve had a bit of a disagreement with Mrs Lockley.’ Sophy was prowling back and forth outside the stable block while reasoning quietly with her sister; she was aware they might be overheard.

‘Weren’t a bit of a disagreement.’ Lucy’s wry grimace emphasised her point. She was also keeping a weather eye out in case any ears were flapping in the vicinity. ‘She called me an insubordinate wretch who should keep to her place. So I told her ...’ She hesitated and guilty colour stole into her cheeks. ’I told her a few home truths, so even if I don’t chuck it in, I’ll probably get chucked out.’ Lucy defiantly tilted her chin. ‘She’s never liked me and I know I ain’t alone in not liking her. Nobody here took to her from the start.’ Lucy stepped closer to hiss in her sister’s ear, ‘We all know she got John Drew sacked from the stables, and Edna couldn’t wait to work out her notice before she quit. If you’re honest, you know you ’n’ Danny don’t like her either.’

Sophy struck a finger to her lips and steered her sister roughly against the cover of brickwork.

Lucy had spoken the truth. Sophy and her husband, Danny, had been disappointed, to say the least, on being introduced to the master’s new wife. Celia was half his age and only two years older than his own daughter. Monica had wisely decided to decamp to live with her aunt in Yorkshire shortly after her stepmother moved in. Celia’s attitude to the staff from the start had been utter disdain, but Sophy and Danny Lovat, older and more mature than their colleagues, had tried to adopt a pragmatic outlook. They had a great deal to lose since they’d been promoted to the top jobs.

After eleven years working at Lockley Grange, and after a year of being man and wife, Danny and Sophy had been summoned to Mr Lockley’s study one afternoon. They’d turned up in trepidation, wondering what they’d done wrong, only to learn they’d been doing everything right. Sophy had been promoted to a new position of housekeeper and Danny to that of house steward. With hindsight they’d realised their employers had wanted to free themselves from running the Grange because they’d known their time together was limited. None of the servants had been aware of the mistress’s grave illness until near the end.

‘How about if I have a quiet word with the master?’ Sophy offered unconvincingly.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Lucy muttered sarcastically, ‘’cos that’s bound to work. We all know she’s got him wrapped right around her little finger. And we all know how she keeps him there,’ she added sourly. Lucy had previously held Mr Lockley in high estimation but her opinion of him had plummeted when she’d realised what a sucker he was.

Ever since the newlyweds had returned from honeymoon, guttural noises could be heard issuing from the master suite at any hour of the day or night, prompting salacious gossip in the servants’ hall. It had not gone unnoticed that the young madam engineered those passionate trysts, and that they invariably coincided with her getting her own way on something.

Sophy felt annoyed at having this bombshell dropped on her by Lucy. It was barely four months since Celia’s personal maid had abruptly quit and Sophy had been put in the same awkward spot, having tactfully to find excuses for a colleague who’d had enough. Through threat and bribery, Sophy had managed to persuade Edna Jones to work out two months’ notice despite the woman insisting she’d sooner give up her wages and scoot than stay and be bullied and belittled. Now Lucy, who had been Edna’s apprentice, was jacking in the same job and Sophy knew the master would question her over why her sister was leaving hot on Edna’s heels.

‘It’s time you learned to take a bit of discipline and curb your tongue, miss,’ Sophy snapped.

‘I’m not putting up with it!’ Lucy exclaimed. ‘I don’t mind doing me duties and a bit more besides, but I’m beggared if I’ll let her look at me like I’m something she’s just stepped in in the stables.’

Sophy cast an assessing look on her younger sister. She had an inkling why the madam constantly clashed with Lucy. Little Luce, as her youngest sister was affectionately known by her family, was too pretty by half.

Lucy had started in the kitchens at the Grange at fourteen. She’d recently turned eighteen and had blossomed from a gawky teenager into quite a beauty. Her hair was thick and had the colour and shine of ripe chestnuts; her large eyes were lushly fringed with sooty lashes, and an unusual shade of greenish blue. But Lucy also had their mother’s pride and fiery temper to balance her sweet looks. For the past year or so, during her transformation from girl to woman, Sophy had noticed her sister turning a few of their male colleagues’ heads. But Lucy could give as good as she got. She was neither shrinking violet nor prude, and always met the boys’ lusty impertinence with a few salty quips of her own.

‘We’ve all had a bellyful of her, but on the whole it’s a good place to live and work.’ Sophy gripped Lucy’s hands to emphasise what she was about to say. ‘Mr Lockley might be a silly old fool but deep down he is a decent man. She’s the master’s wife so we’ve all got to accept it and knuckle down—’