Coveley Castle

3

In that summer when I arrived at the castle, Mrs. Murray was over sixty-five years old, but did not look more than fifty-five or sixty.

She was a tall woman, with strong bones and a strong character. I soon learned that her responsibilities went far beyond just the kitchen, and that she had been ruling the castle with an iron hand for decades.

The passing of the years did not seem to diminish her energy and she took care of everything with professional efficiency.

But during my second summer at the castle, Mrs. Murray had a fall with a very hard blow and injured her right knee. The wound became infected and brought her fevers. That left her in bed for several months, much to her chagrin, and by the time she was able to get up she was not the same.

Of course, all of this happened months after my arrival in Coveley. I still have a lot to tell, I should not get ahead of myself.

On that August morning in 1830 when my mother left me in charge of that woman (unknown to me), Margaret Murray was a diligent and kind woman, though few in words.

She took my bundle of clothes and invited me in. She led me through the hall and then through internal corridors to the kitchen, which was very large, even larger than our small cabin.

It was a kitchen worthy of the castle to which it belonged. More than forty or fifty years ago, it had lived through times of glory, with frequent banquets for eighty or a hundred people as well. Many servants had worked busily in it, in some places the stone floor looked polished and shiny from being so worn.

Large pots, pans, and bronze dishes of various sizes hung from hooks on the walls and also from the ceiling beams. Almost abandoned against one of the walls was an imposing table where up to ten kitchen helpers could work plucking partridges or peeling potatoes without getting in each other's way.

Near the large hearth was a smaller but equally comfortable table that was used daily for cooking and eating.

Everything looked impeccable. You could tell that there was a careful hand behind all the order and cleanliness.

Soon I could see that Mrs. Murray was a very correct, demanding, and punctilious woman, but she did not have a bad heart.

Kindly, she ignored my tearful scene of a few minutes before, and seeing that I was completely out of my element and, to make matters worse, shaken by my mother's recent departure, she made no comment when she saw me wiping my nose on my jacket sleeve.

She made me sit at the large kitchen table and served me a glass of milk and a piece of pudding, and then, leaving me alone, she went through a door that connected the kitchen to other rooms in the house that I had not yet seen.

That sweet, soft, and fluffy pudding was the most delicious thing I had eaten up to that point. I savored every bite.

I was swallowing the last bite when she returned.

Seeing that I hadn't left any crumbs, Mrs. Murray took pity on me and served me another portion. She wanted to pinch me to confirm that I was awake! After trying the new piece of pudding and finding that it tasted like paradise just like I remembered it, I looked at her with adoration and suddenly my mother's abandonment wasn't so serious anymore.

With few words, she introduced herself, informed me of what was expected of me, and led me to the small room where I would sleep from now on.

There she gave me a change of clothes (pants, shirt, and socks) and ordered me to change immediately and give her the dirty clothes so she could wash them.

The shirt was a bit short in the sleeves and the pants a bit big, but I wouldn't have dared to complain. I had never worn such soft fabrics or clothes that weren't full of seams and repairs everywhere.

She also brought me another pair of thicker socks, a soft linen nightshirt, and a long vest with spacious pockets that could be filled with nuts. The wonders never ceased!

Accustomed to sharing the space of the small cabin and the sleeping mat with my brothers, the eight-foot-long by six-foot-wide room assigned to me as a bedroom seemed huge and luxurious. I felt as rich as Lord Coveley.

Although originally a pantry for cereals, in recent times one of the low shelves was modified to accommodate a cot. It also had a rough wooden bedside table and stool. And some nails to hang my new vest and old coat when it was washed.

This little room was located behind the kitchen stove, which was a blessing in winter and made it uninhabitable in summer.

I soon found a better refuge in the cool hayloft of the stable, where I moved the cot and slept until autumn (with Mrs. Murray's permission) in the company of the goats that lived there.

But still, all the arrangements suited me, and I was as happy as a lark.

My mother didn't come to see me on Sunday, but she did come the following week. She came with Nancy and Ben, and they brought a shirt that Maria had sewn for me.

After the greetings and introductions, Mrs. Murray left the kitchen to let us enjoy a moment of family intimacy.

I was telling my mother about the wonders of life in the castle when Ben, innocently, interrupted me to give me some nuts that Carry and Larry had gathered for me the day before... in the castle forest! The forbidden nuts! My mother's look of horror almost made him cry.

I quickly hid the nuts in my pockets. And I thanked him quietly, promising to get him a piece of pudding for his next visit but that he shouldn't bring me nuts because it was wrong to enter the castle forest.

It was funny that I was telling him that, when weeks before, in the forest, I had taught him to use his cap to store nuts when they no longer fit in his pockets. Poor Ben looked at me without understanding my change of attitude, while my sister Nancy smiled mockingly at me.

My mother no longer paid attention to us, looking around in amazement at so many shiny bronze pots so clean, and the abundance of food baskets and bags she saw.

The visit didn't last long. When they were leaving, Mrs. Murray gave them a basket full of potatoes and turnips, and small sacks of flour and dried chickpeas.

My mother was effusive in her thanks, to which Mrs. Murray replied that they were very pleased with me.

Then she gave me permission to accompany my mother to our house so I could carry the basket for her, as my mother was carrying Benjamin in her arms.

I assured Mrs. Murray that I would return promptly, and so I did.

That night, in the shelter of the stable, I ate the nuts stealthily. I felt lucky with the new life I had since I lived in the castle. Everything was different for me and promised many new adventures in the days to come.

Everything was different for me and promised many new adventures in the days to come.