The Singing Butler

The Singing Butler
glared at Lucy.
"Your house is your castle," said Lucy.
"Laughing at me?"
"Of course not. I think it's very exciting to have a real country place all surrounded by town."
"Quite so. Can't see another house from here, can you? Fields with cows in them - right in the middle of Brackhampton. You hear the traffic a bit when the wind's that way - but otherwise it's still country."
He added, without pause or change of tone, to his daughter:
"Ring up that damn' fool of a doctor. Tell him that last medicine's no good at all."
The Singing Butler
Lucy and Emma retired. He shouted after them:
"And don't let that damned woman who sniffs dust in here. She's disarranged all my books."
Lucy asked:
"Has Mr. Crackenthorpe been an invalid long?"
Emma said, rather evasively:
"Oh, for years now…. This is the kitchen."
The kitchen was enormous. A vast kitchen range stood cold and neglected. An Aga stood demurely beside it.
Lucy asked times of meals and inspected the larder. Then she said cheerfully to Emma Crackenthorpe:
"I know everything now. Don't bother. Leave it all to me."
Emma Crackenthorpe heaved a sigh of relief as she went up to bed that night.
The Singing Butler