Once again it was summer and the Bertucci family had left the city to spend the hot and dry months of the year in the lush setting of their sea side estate. Surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation, the main house sat on a hill, overlooking the ocean. With the stables in the back, a few paces away from the manor and the servants’ quarters set back to the right, it was obvious that the Bertucci family had known how to live for many generations already. The magnificent gardens held the white shining mansion as would a sheet of the finest silk hold a precious jewel.
When the carriages and riders arrived at the estate, it was late in the afternoon already, and at once the liveried servants - most of them had arrived on the estate a few days before already to prepare the mansion for the owners - hurried to open the doors and give a helping hand to the Lords and Ladies when stepping down. The warm summer air was filled with the soft and electric rustle of long silk gowns, with the hard and crunching noises of the Gentlemen’s riding boots, and everywhere there was relaxed chatter and laughter.
Hidden in the shadow of the trees stood Lizette. It was her first summer on Nahl Bo. She had been taken into service only a few months ago. With her eyes wide open she looked at the Lords in their tight fitting breeches and the high polished riding boots. And what a sight were the ladies, their dresses outshining each other, shining brocade and fine woven crêpe de chine, jewels and ...pearls snugly fit around the slim necks or resting in the cradle of firm breasts ... Lizette looked down to her own dress, raw wool, and plain cotton, yet it was more than she ever had owned before. Then her eyes went back to scene in front of the mansion, she dreamed herself among the Ladies there, holding a fan and throwing cheeky and daring glances at the young gentlemen, just to be cruelly drawn back to reality when the cook’s voice echoed through the servant’s quarters.
After a few days, young Lizette had become used to the schedules of the long and lazy summer days. Lazy they were, but not for the servants, as Lizette found out soon enough. After late breakfasts with whatever the Lords’ and Ladies’ hearts did desire, high were the piles of plates and silverware that Lizette had to take care of in the kitchen.
At 18 being the youngest girl among the servants and the one who only had been taken into service recently, her task was the one of the scullery maid, cleaning the kitchen and washing the plates, preparing the fruits and vegetables for the cooks and cleaning the ashes from the hearth. That was why she was always the last one to be in the mansion’s kitchen, and the first one to arrive before the next meal had to be prepared. And so she was in the kitchen all by herself this late afternoon again, washing the dishes from the afternoon tea and starting to prepare the vegetables for the dinner.
It was a hot day again, and the steam raising from the hot water she used made her dark hair curl and strands of it stuck to her lovely young face. Knowing she was all by herself, she had raised one side of her long and heavy skirts and shoved them under the apron, and her corsage was not laced as tight and high as the kitchen mistress might have seen fit, but Lizette was grateful for every little breeze that now and then waved through the open kitchen door. It was silent and nothing but the occasional buzzing of a bee or the clack of the dishes in the sink could be heard in the sweet and heavy summer air.
