Shaken to the Core (6 page)

The bell of the church on the eastern slope of Nob Hill pealed six times.

Giuliana realized she had hovered in the driveway for minutes, woolgathering. She dashed to the front door, Mrs. Winthrop’s words about tardiness echoing through her mind.

Again, the butler opened.

“Good morning,” Giuliana said, a little breathlessly.

“Morning,” he mumbled. “You need to use the servants’ entrance in the back from now on, not wake up the entire house by knocking on the front door.”

Despite the chill in the air, Giuliana’s cheeks warmed. “Oh. I am so sorry. No one told me this.”

“Come on in. You’re letting all the warm air out.” The butler waved her into the house.

Giuliana quickly entered and took off her worn coat and her straw hat. Holding them in both hands, she stood in the entry hall, not sure what to do now.

“Good morning,” said a female voice from behind the butler. A thin young woman with a face that reminded Giuliana of a mouse walked up and took Giuliana’s coat and hat from her. “You must be Julie.”

Biting her lip, Giuliana nodded.

“I’m Obedience, but most everyone calls me Biddy. We’d better get started. There’s a lot to do today, and the missus doesn’t like idleness.” She set off in a fast clip down the hall and hung up Giuliana’s coat and hat. “I suppose we should start with the water closet. Mrs. Winthrop likes to start the day with a long bath.” Without waiting for Giuliana, she started up the staircase.

Gripping the mahogany banister with one hand, Giuliana hesitated, almost afraid to set foot on the pristine red carpet on the stairs. What if dirt—or, worse, horse manure—was clinging to her shoes?

“Come on. We don’t have all morning,” Biddy called down to her.

Giuliana gathered her skirt and rushed up the stairs.

Biddy opened a door to the right and flicked a switch.

Light flared on. Giuliana stared up at the ceiling, marveling at the miracle of electricity. She had seen electric lightbulbs here and there, of course, but never before in a private home, at least not before setting foot into the Winthrops’ home yesterday. Just how rich were they? She was tempted to flick the light switch a few times, to watch the light turn on and off, but she didn’t dare. Biddy probably already thought she was either slow or lazy, so she quickly entered the room.

More wonders of the new century awaited her. A claw-foot tub stretched along one entire wall, its white porcelain gleaming in the bright electric light. How unlike the dented tin tub her mother had set up in a corner of their home once a week! The floor and the walls were covered with white tiles, except for the upper part, which was set in bluish-gray plaster. Instead of the chipped washbowl that Giuliana used to wash herself, this room held a pedestal washbasin with pipes that carried away the water. Above it hung a mirror, showing Giuliana her stunned-looking reflection. On an oak commode next to it lay a silver hairbrush. A water closet with a large tank was installed on the opposite wall. Of course. An outdoor privy like the one they had used at home wouldn’t do for the Winthrops, and neither would a rickety toilet in a tiny room down the hall, to be shared by all families living on the top floor of Giuliana’s boardinghouse.

“You give the toilet a good scrubbin’, and I’ll do the tub,” Biddy said.

As she watched Biddy twist the silver handle on the tub, Giuliana got the feeling that she had gotten the short end of the stick. Suppressing a sigh, she got to work. She took one of the cleaning cloths, stepped up to the washbasin to wet it, and turned on the faucet. “The water…It is warm!” she blurted out.

Biddy laughed. “Of course it is. We won’t have to heat water on the range for Mrs. Winthrop’s bath either. It comes out of the tap. Amazing, isn’t it?”

Giuliana nodded numbly. If only Turi could have seen this.

But even the wonder of running hot water didn’t spare them from an hour of hard work scrubbing the toilet’s porcelain bowl, the tub, and the tiles with ammonia and then washing the floor with chloride of lime. The stinging, unpleasant odors filled Giuliana’s nose and made her sneeze twice.

Finally, she pulled the chain dangling down from the toilet’s tank and watched the water swirl down into the now shiny white bowl. “All done.”

The grandfather clock in the vestibule chimed, indicating that it was seven o’clock, as they made their way back downstairs, where more work awaited them.

Giuliana cleaned the ash out of the fireplace in the morning room, where the Winthrops would take their breakfast later. By the time she had mopped the marble floor in the entry hall, her back was groaning and her stomach growled, since she had only had time for a bit of bread and cheese before catching the first cable car earlier this morning.

Biddy stayed close all the while, more instructing her than doing her fair share of the work. Maybe that was how it was supposed to be since Biddy was a lady’s maid, so—unlike Giuliana—she hadn’t been hired for general housework. While they worked, Biddy kept up a constant stream of chatter. Giuliana found out that while only Biddy lived in the mansion, the Winthrops also employed two other servants in addition to Biddy and the butler—a cook and a gardener. Until recently, there had also been another maid and a chauffeur.

“Why did they leave?” Giuliana asked as she lifted her pail of dirty water to carry it down the hall.

“It wasn’t their idea, that’s for sure. Mrs. Winthrop dismissed them.”

Whatever the reason for their dismissal, Giuliana didn’t want to repeat their mistake. “What did they do?”

“I’m not sure I should say,” Biddy whispered. She looked left and right as if to make sure no one could overhear them and then blurted, “They were dismissed for an indiscretion. You understand?”

“Indiscretion?”

“They were caught…together.” Biddy’s face turned the color of a ripe tomato.

“Oh. You mean, they…” She didn’t want to appear uncouth by saying out loud what exactly they might have been caught doing.

Biddy nodded. Her eyes shone with the excitement of being able to repeat a bit of gossip.

Well, Giuliana didn’t have to worry about that. No man had ever come calling on her. Compared to Miss Kate’s elegant beauty and her cream-colored complexion that made her skin resemble the finest porcelain, Giuliana looked like Sicilian peasant stock, with her mamma’s big hips and strong arms from working hard all her life. Her appearance didn’t draw the attention of American men, and she had neither money nor a wealthy family that would attract them in spite of her looks. Well, she found that she didn’t regret it at all. She missed Turi, but otherwise, she was content staying on her own, without male company. Love was something for upper-class women who could afford the luxury. She’d never found any man all that interesting anyway.

At eight o’clock, Biddy finally led her into the kitchen for a well-deserved break and a bite to eat. The kitchen was a hot hive of activity. The cook—a blonde, rosy-cheeked woman named Anna Tretow—hurried back and forth between the range and a work table, preparing breakfast for the family.

When Giuliana saw all the food, her eyes almost popped out of her head. Back home, breakfast had never been such a lavish affair. Half a dozen different jams sat on a tray while another held oatmeal and a pitcher of cream. Steam rose off freshly baked rolls, which were sitting next to glasses of freshly pressed orange juice. Strips of bacon and a bowl full of beaten eggs waited beside the frying pan.

How did Miss Kate keep her willowy figure if she ate like this every morning?

A bell rang, calling Biddy upstairs to help Mrs. Winthrop dress. A second set of heavier footsteps indicated that the butler was hurrying up the stairs too.

Giuliana stayed behind but wondered if she should go up too to assist Miss Kate. Being a servant came with a complex set of rules, it seemed, and she had no idea what they were. “I go up the stairs and help Miss Kate, yes?” she asked the cook.

“I don’t think so,” Mrs. Tretow answered. “Much to her mother’s dismay, she goes without a corset as often as she can get away with it, so she doesn’t usually need help getting dressed.”

Which was probably a good thing, seeing how Giuliana had never owned or worn a corset in her life and wouldn’t know what to do with it. But, she admitted to herself, she was a little disappointed anyway. She was curious to go to Miss Kate’s room and see all the beautiful things that she might own.

Giuliana took one of the rolls that had gotten too dark in the oven for herself, but before she could finish eating it, Mrs. Tretow shoved a plate piled high with bacon at her.

“Quick! Take it to the morning room before it gets cold.”

Carefully balancing the plate, Giuliana padded through the hall and entered the morning room. It seemed wasteful to have an entire room just for eating breakfast, but she had to admit that the view of the gardens behind the house was beautiful.

As she approached the table, Mrs. Winthrop—in a rose-colored dress that was different from the one she’d worn the day before—and a salt-and-pepper-haired man that had to be her husband kept conversing, completely ignoring her presence, as if Giuliana were part of the furnishings.

Miss Kate looked up from the snow-white napkin she’d just placed on her lap and gave Giuliana a small smile. A bruise marred the middle of her forehead.

Giuliana blanched and stumbled, nearly dropping the plate in the process. A hearty “minchia” escaped her and then made her pale even more. She could only hope that none of them understood Sicilian. Turi’s favorite curse word wasn’t fit for polite company.

She caught herself just in time before the entire plate, including the sizzling bacon, could slide onto Miss Kate’s lap. Quickly, she placed it on the table.

A single strip of bacon fell off the plate and stained the starched tablecloth.

Oh no!

Miss Kate pierced the errant piece of bacon with her fork, popped it into her mouth, and slid the serving plate over the stain before her parents could notice the mishap. One corner of her mouth curled up into a conspiratorial smile.

Giuliana breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help smiling back before hurrying out of the room. Outside, she leaned against the wall for a moment and wiped her brow. She was beginning to think she might not make a good maid. All the luxury surrounding her in the Winthrop mansion was making her nervous, and the harder she tried to make a good impression, the clumsier she became.

Once breakfast was over—thankfully, without further incident—Mr. Winthrop donned his fine wool coat and his black bowler hat and left the house. His wife went upstairs to take a bath while Miss Kate retreated to one of the downstairs rooms Giuliana hadn’t seen yet, maybe the back parlor or a music room.

Without her employers watching, the work went a lot better. She cleared the table in the morning room, dusted in Mr. Winthrop’s study, and polished the furniture in the drawing room.

Freshly bathed and in yet another dress, this one a buttery yellow, Mrs. Winthrop reappeared an hour later. “Make sure you run the sweeper over the carpets in the parlor, the study, the hall, and the staircase. I want them swept at least three times a week.”

The sweeper? Was she talking about a broom? “Yes, ma’am. I clean them always. Where is the…eh, sweeper?”

“In the cupboard under the stairs,” Mrs. Winthrop said and stepped past her on the way to the drawing room.

Giuliana walked over to the cupboard and opened it. To the left, it held a neat shelf filled with buckets, brushes, and other cleaning materials. Leaning against the right side were several brooms. She grabbed one of them—and then realized that it wasn’t a broom at all. The top of the device resembled a broom since it had a long handle too, but instead of bristles, it ended in a flat box. Was that the sweeper that Mrs. Winthrop had mentioned?

She peeked toward the drawing room, but disturbing Mrs. Winthrop to ask was a bad idea. She didn’t want her to think she’d hired a stupid girl who had never cleaned a house before.

Determined to figure it out, she pulled the device out of the cupboard and knelt to examine the lower end of the machine. Inside the box were two brushes mounted on a roller. If she pushed the sweeper along the floor, the brushes would rotate and the dirt would be swept up inside the box. What clever ideas people came up with!

Excited, she tried out the machine on the rug in the entry hall. At first, pushing and pulling the sweeper over the carpets was fun, but after a while, the device seemed to become heavier and heavier. It was tempting to skip the front parlor, which appeared more like a pristine showpiece designed to impress visitors than a room where the family spent much time. But the risk of getting caught was too high.

Instead of flicking on the electric light, she opened the green velvet curtains in the front parlor. Up here on the hill, the sun was already breaking through the morning fog that came in from the bay. She pushed the sweeper over the expensive-looking rug in front of the piano. One stubborn piece of lint refused to be swept up, no matter how often she ran the device over it. With a grunt, she knelt to pick it up.

The sun glinted off something in the corner of the room. Had one of the ladies lost a hatpin? Giuliana stood and walked over to examine it.

It wasn’t a hatpin. Sparkling in the sun was a gold coin. When Giuliana bent and picked it up, she discovered that it was a half eagle.

Five dollars! That was more than she would earn in a week. So much money was lying around without anyone missing it! How could that be? Giuliana shook her head. She looked down at the coin in her hand and ran her thumb over it. Without her prompting, her mind provided a thousand things she could buy with that amount of extra money. It might even be enough for new pairs of shoes for her two youngest siblings.

As tempting as it was, the money wasn’t hers. It belonged to the Winthrops, no matter if they needed it or not. She dragged the carpet sweeper into the hall and put it back into the cupboard beneath the stairs. Her gaze went to the closed door of the drawing room. Should she bring Mrs. Winthrop the coin? But the lady of the house might not be too pleased at the interruption. Her kind daughter seemed a safer bet, so Giuliana went to the door behind which Miss Kate had disappeared earlier. It was the last room at the very end of the hall, opposite of the larder.