Chapter 42: Cleaning The South Wing
Rose was covered in dust—her hands, her clothes, and even her lashes weren’t spared. Her hair was the worst off; the scarf barely did anything to protect her. Rose had scrubbed, dusted, swept, and polished. The work was grueling, and by midday, her hands were raw, and her back ached, but she had made some progress.
The first few rooms were clean, the curtains washed and hung out to dry. Edna had managed to get some maids to help her, and it was the only way she had been able to make this amount of progress in such a short time. However, she still had the main hall to clean, guest rooms, and more than half of the wing left. There was no way she would be able to finish it in a week if it took this long to clean just a few rooms.
She wiped her hands on her dusty dress as she made her way out of the room she had just finished. She needed a breather, and it was already past lunchtime. She hadn’t eaten yet.
Rose pulled open the door and almost dropped the cleaning items she held in fright. "Mistress Edith," Rose called, trying to recover.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Rose was taken aback, and she wasn’t sure if the Mistress was asking because she disapproved of what Rose had done or if she was simply inquiring.
"I just finis’ed wit’ this room. The old curtains are hangin’ out to dry, and Edna said she would bring the new ones. I want to take a break," she ended up blurting out.
Mistress Edith gave her a look of disapproval, but she didn’t stop her. "You can take a break, but remember you only have a week. And with the work you’ve done, I doubt you’ll finish in time."
"I will," she said confidently. If she didn’t have help, Rose would never have let those words pass her lips, but knowing that she didn’t have to do it all by herself gave her some confidence.
Mistress Edith scoffed. "I’ll check on what you’ve done. If it isn’t clean, you’ll have to redo it."