Chapter Nine #10
Kade took a moment to calm himself, and the women allowed him this, waiting patiently for him to continue.
“By this time, however,” he said, somewhat more composedly, “the hour was getting later and the deer tend to scatter when the sun warms up, so I and my five—five—men took our leave, and managed to kill ourselves a bounty of seven does and two young stags. So we were able to return earlier than I’d originally thought we might, and I’ve commissioned several of the very same five men—who I plan on rewarding with the choicest selection of cuts from these deer, along with a promotion as soon as I step up—to butcher the meat and bring it to you fine ladies to prepare for the contingent of the army who has agreed to rise early on the morrow and begin dedicating themselves to the considerable amount of work we have cut out for us. ”
He paused again, looking at the women one by one, as though expecting a protest. None came.
“I mention all this to you for several reasons. First, you must understand that I am occupied with the army and the hunting parties, so I must leave the management of the manor up to my wife, soon to be Lady Morrison. Second, I realize that you may not be used to some of the tasks that will now be asked of you. There will be more meat, and food in general, to store, preserve and prepare. We will be using the hall to dine in on a regular basis. We therefore need a clean, efficient kitchen staffed with people, such as yourselves, no doubt, who are up to the job.”
My husband looked around the untidy room, at the dirty dishes, the unorganized shelves and in the direction of the neglected pantry, before continuing.
The women exchanged nervous glances. “Your workloads must have indeed have been heavy, since you weren’t able to carry out even the beginnings of my explicit directions, as given by my wife.
So, what I suggest we do is to work together to complete the tasks.
Now.” It was this word that, finally, hammered his point very convincingly home.
He was highly irritated that he had come in after a long day of arguing, dueling, hunting and riding—as well as attending to somewhat more private pursuits, which had not been entirely...
resolved for him—to find that none of his simple requests had been carried out.
At all. “We’ll need to work later than you might be accustomed to, but you’ll be rewarded, of course.
You’ll be given extra meat for yourselves to share with your families—but that’s only if you get the jobs done in a timely manner.
’Tis all or nothing, and it’s up to us to work until the work is done.
” He surveyed the faces of his rapt listeners, with pronounced, assertive cheerfulness. “Are we agreed?”
These nods of agreement were more tentative, and his speech had taken on a decidedly harder edge.
“And are we agreed that, in the future, when my wife asks you to complete a task, you will do so without questioning it? I am not only extremely observant, but I have every reason to take as gospel every word, every impression and every grievance that my wife presents me with—not that I would expect any of those. We work with our own best interests at heart, after all, and hard work, as I’ve said, will be rewarded handsomely.
Those who choose not to work—well, let’s just say I’ve been told I’m overemphatic about my dismissals, and those who are dismissed or demoted are offered the last of the food rations from that day forward.
But I’m sure that’s of no consequence here.
Now, you will tell me your names, in turn, and I will assign you each an important, necessary job.
I will be on hand to assist anyone who needs it. ”
There were tactics behind Kade’s message; we all understood that.
Our dedication was as necessary as that of the soldiers and hunters if our keep was to sustain us through the long winter months: that now seemed obvious.
That he had taken the time to explain this, I could see, was far more effective than my father’s method of leadership: of giving haphazard orders that were then followed up with demeaning punishments if the indiscretions were even noticed.
My father was old and had never been fastidious.
Hard work was never praised, or even valued.
It had been a challenging day for my husband.
His fierceness—a fierceness I could now recognize that was comprised of spirit, industriousness and honor, not irrational wrath—had returned in full force.
The servants saw it, too, and they reacted with a hesitant obedience.
In fact, I’d never, ever, seen any of them work like this.
Once given their assignments, they launched into their tasks wholeheartedly.
Kade helped them, and so did I. As a cooperative, driven team, they cleaned, cooked, set tables, lit fires, baked bread and even attended to their own appearances.
Within several hours, the kitchen and the grand hall of Glenlochie had been transformed.