Whisper Of Darkness

‘What’s all this you’ve been saying about my housekeeping?’ she demanded, as soon as Joanna had crossed the threshold. ‘What right have you to make remarks about how I looks after this place? I’ll have you know, I’ve been here nigh on thirty years, and no one’s ever complained before.’

‘Really?’ Joanna didn’t want to get involved in this. It was no business of hers if she was leaving. But she could hardly believe that she was the first to notice the deplorable state of the place.

‘Yes, really,’ Mrs Harris continued aggressively. ‘There was no complaints when Mr Fawcett was alive, and since he’s gone and Mr Sheldon’s took over, he’s never said he wasn’t satisfied with my work.’

‘Perhaps Mr Sheldon, being a man, doesn’t care about such things,’ put in Joanna carefully, and Mrs Harris let out an indignant howl.

‘You cheeky young madam, coming here with your hoity-toity ways, putting on airs and graces, pretending you’re something you’re not! Why, Mrs Hunter herself told us you and your mother was practically penniless since that father of yours gambled all his money away, and you were forced to look for work to support the two of you!’ Joanna’s cheeks burned. What had Aunt Lydia told Jake Sheldon’s sister? How had she phrased the offer of her goddaughter’s services to educate her niece? And how had Marcia Hunter described her to her brother, that his housekeeper should speak so disparagingly of it?

‘My personal affairs are no concern of yours, Mrs Harris,’ she said now, trying desperately to maintain her detachment. If she once resorted to a slanging match with the woman, she would lose all semblance of self-respect, and that was something she must retain at all costs.

‘Personal affairs!’ sneered Mrs Harris scornfully. ‘Your affairs aren’t personal. It was in all the papers—how your father broke his neck trying to jump a fence when he was drunk——’

‘He wasn’t drunk,’ denied Joanna hotly, unable to stay silent on that score. ‘The horse bolted——’

‘So you say.’

‘It’s the truth!’

Mrs Harris obviously didn’t believe her, but she changed her tactics. ‘You soon found out who your friends was, though, didn’t you?’ she taunted. ‘All them posh ways of yours count for nothing when you’ve got no money, do they? And you come here, criticising me! I don’t know how you have the nerve! Saying I keep a dirty house—complaining about my cooking—telling Mr Sheldon that the food is appalling——’

‘It is,’ asserted a hard masculine voice behind them, and their employer came impatiently into the room, applying the flame of the slim gold lighter in his hand to the narrow cigar between his teeth. ‘You’re fired, Mrs Harris. I should have done it long ago, but I’m afraid I’ve allowed everything to slide since—since coming here. I intend to rectify that. And your dismissal is long overdue.’

Joanna didn’t know which one of them was the most astounded, herself or Mrs Harris. The last thing she had expected was that he might actually act on what she had said, and in spite of her aversion for the housekeeper’s slovenly ways, she couldn’t help but sympathise with such an abrupt expulsion.