Bonzer Words!: Right Ho, Jeeves
John Turner tells of tenants who worked on Millionaires' Row.
He was a butler. his wife a cook/housekeeper, both employed by a wealthy recluse. As live in staff of many years standing, they were weary of living below stairs. They wanted a little place of their own. 'Somewhere more private, where we can relax on their days off, as Henry and Margaret explained. And as our house was but a stone's throw from their employer's they were keen to be our new tenants.
So Henry and Marge soon settled in and established a routine whereby, once their duties were completed, they were free to enjoy time together, away from the big house. They bought extra furniture, curtains and carpets; which was a novel experience for them, as they had spent their married life in ready-furnished servant's quarters.
We enjoyed their company, and loved listening to Henry's tales of 'What the Butler Saw'. We even got a guided tour of the big house, a grim Gothic residence, full of musty corridors and silent rooms, an ideal film-set for Dickens' Miss Havisham, or Bronte's Jane Eyre.
They were happy and contented, as were we, for at last we had two trouble-free tenants.
Then, after only three months, they decided to return to their quarters in Millionaire's Row.
They blamed their employer's increasing demands on their time, which they dare not object to, for fear of upsetting him, and jeopardising their chance of some form of reward for the twenty years of loyal servivce they had given him.
'But what about your furniture and stuff?' I asked Henry.
'Oh, you can keep all that. It's of more use to you than it is to us,' he replied.
And so they returned to the way of life they had known since leaving school, a way of life, I suspected, that was so deeply ingrained that they accepted it dutifully and without rancour.
© John Turner
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John writes for Bonzer! magazine. Please visit www.bonzer.org.au
