"Well, I hate her already," Charlotte said. "If the duchess doesn't want him, I do."

"Obviously," Sarah muttered.

*

Sassy was given a room on the third floor all to herself and a bed she was not forced to share with anyone else. Of course, as more maids came, the other bed in her room would be occupied, but just now, it was all hers and she could not believe her good fortune. She even had a dresser, although it was well used and she had little to put in the drawers. McKenna gave her a very fine brush and as tired as she was, she gave her auburn hair a good brushing before bed. She would have liked having a mirror to look in, but she had done without one for years.

She even had her own porcelain basin for washing with a matching pitcher full of water. The problem was, she could not quite decide if it should go in the middle of the dresser or to one side. She moved it to the right side, climbed into bed, pulled up the covers and closed her eyes. A moment later, she opened them again, threw off the covers, got up, and moved it back to the center. At last, she was content and fell fast asleep.

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*

The next morning, the smell of bacon filled the air and Hannish expected the Scots to sleep late. Instead, he found most of them eating when he entered the kitchen. He had a well-established habit of coming to the kitchen in the mornings, instead of ringing for tea and disturbing their breakfast. The Scottish servants quickly stood, so the Americans did as well. "Dinna let me disturb you. I manage to wander in here from time to time and 'tis not necessary to stand, save when we have guests, perhaps."

The servant's dining hall was almost as large as the formal dining room, with plenty of chairs for several more servants without having to eat in shifts.

"I have decided not to await my wife's decorating desires," said Hannish. "Therefore, we have much work ahead. Prescot, you will take the wagon to town and secure a bed for my sister, if at all possible. Take Shepard with you. McKenna will need bedding and any other suitable furniture you manage to find. If you cannae find any, we will borrow some from the servant's quarters until new arrives." He lifted the saucer off the tray Halen held, blew on the contents in the cup and then took a sip. "Thank you, Halen. Prescot, bring back two or three Montgomery Ward Catalogs. I believe the post office has extras. I am counting on the rest of you to make lists of needs for the house and dinna forget a clock for every room."




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