Servants’ world (Five minutes freewrite)

Mr. Harrington’s sudden death was seen as a momentous change by most of the servants, except maybe the youngest among the apprentices, whose opinion was not to be trusted anyway. Yet, no one expected the major upheaval that came with Lord Percy’s decision to bring an outsider as his chief butler, to replace old Jeffrey.
Within an hour of his arrival at the manor, the whole staff took to hating Joseph Ashe passionately. Maybe it was his nasal way of speaking which gave his voice a decidedly ironic undertone. Maybe it was his round pasty face, which earned him the nickname of Mr. Babybottom.
His habit of showing up late in the morning was considered an insult to the memory of Jeffrey Harrington, who used to be up and perfectly dressed by 6 a.m. Not like Mr. Ashe who had the nerve to show up at 7 am with sleep creases on his smooth fat cheeks.
‘I must have overslept’, he grinned as he sat down to enjoy his morning coffee, while the servants awaiting orders fumed and cast him murderous glances.
‘It’s so unfair’, complained young Mary, the cook’s apprentice, who was expected to be in the kitchen by 6 to start the fire, or Tom, who milked the two cows and brought in fresh eggs. They didn’t dare to bring it up with Mr. Ashe. Nor did, Fred, Lord Percy’s personal butler, who had his master’s outfit ready by 7, even though his lordship didn’t wake up until 10. At least not in the beginning, as he considered himself above the petty squabbles so common among the rest of the household staff.

That changed soon after his lordship struck an ungainly friendship with a new neighbor, quite an unsavory character with a penchant for all-night parties and gambling. Mr.Percy started to come home at increasingly late hours, keeping his fateful servant up to undress him and, very often, clean up after his lordship threw up. Waking up one of the maids for the task wouldn’t do, as Fred had a duty to preserve his master’s dignity and good name. This exhausting schedule made Fred quite irritable and seeing the head butler walking into the kitchen with sleep lines on his fat cheeks only added to his frustration.
An alliance was formed and soon all the servants competed in dropping hints as to Mr. Ashe’s many faults when his lordship was within earshot. In no time at all, Mr. Ashe was being blamed for everything. The soup was too salty? Why, Mr. Ashe tasted it himself and thought it was excellent. The maid forgot to sew a button? Mr. Ashe must have sent her to dust the guest bedroom. The servants would have found a way to blame the unusually harsh winter on him, had not his lordship decided to fire Mr. Babybottom.
It was with great satisfaction that the servants received the news Fred was to take on the duties of head-butler, while still maintaining his job as Lord Percy’s trusted servant.
The servants greeted each other with happy smiles as they met each morning in the kitchen at 6 am. Mary started the fire, Tom brought fresh milk, while Fred, now commonly referred to as Mr. Stewart, gave orders for the day while gulping down a full pot of coffee to clear his aching head after another poor night’s sleep. Under his watchful eye, Martha the cook arranged the breakfast tray, although his lordship now slept until 11.
As the clock struck seven, one of them would quip: ‘Babybottom must be waking up about now’. The joke soon became old, but they still laughed, not too loud to wake up the master, though. All was well in the servants’ world again.

Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge. Today's prompt was: overslept! Check out her blog and join our freewrite community.

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