“Write the Colonel a note,” Delia suggested. “I’ll get John to take it, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Aufors came at once, let himself in by the side entrance, as requested, and in the small dining room he, Delia, and Genevieve held a council of war.
“I am so thankful you have come, Colonel.”
She looked so uncomfortable that he decided at once on a soothing informality. “If we are to work together, my Lady Marchioness, you may call me Aufors. I grant you it’s an odd name, but I came by it legitimately, through a rogue of a great grandfather.” He turned a radiant smile on her that blocked her throat as though she had been eating feathers.
“Well, Colonel,” said Delia, with an assessing glance at Genevieve that told her the girl was for the moment speechless. “The Lady Marchioness finds the place to be dirty, and a bit shabby to boot. The carpets are worn, more than even I’d allow. The furniture needs cleaning of a kind no new household can manage. Professionals, I’d say.”
“Footmen,” murmured Genevieve. “If we’re to entertain, we’ll need footmen, and I have no idea where to get temporary help, or even to get the flowers we’ll need. And Father has recently hired the cook, I don’t know her at all well, but I have heard she’s dissatisfied with the kitchen. I have this terrible image in my mind of burned roasts and fallen cakes. I know the butler, Halpern, no better than the cook and the other locally hired staff, though it is my understanding Halpern came with the house. If Father had given me a little time, I daresay I could have managed nicely, but all this being dropped out of the sky on my head just baffles me.”
Aufors noted it all down. He went to meet with Halpern and the cook, sent a few written inquiries to friends via several hastily obtained messengers, and went over the house before returning to Genevieve. “Here is the name of a man who does professional cleaning and has enough help to do it quickly, and here the name of a decorator who also works quickly and without chatter. Halpern, the butler, approves both choices but thinks they may respond more quickly for you than they would for him, as the Baron who inherited this house has allowed the place to fall into disrepute both as to its maintenance and as to its prompt payment of accounts.
“The flowers will have to come from the greenhouses at court. It would normally take several weeks to get an allocation, but they have a plethora, and I have a friend who’s made a friend of the gardeners.
“Your cook does not like the kitchen—and one can quite see why— but minor changes will do for now and she will rise to the challenge. I told her she is probably the only one in the city who could do so under such circumstances. I’ve explained to Halpern what’s toward, and he’s so grateful someone is doing something about the house—I gave you all the credit for that, Genevieve—that he’ll turn cartwheels if you suggest it. It would be appropriate for you to give him carte blanche in hiring whatever additional help he needs for this first dinner, starting with two or three men to clean up the gardens. I’ve talked with the man who used to be head gardener here—he’s taken a position at a large establishment nearby. He says it’s too late in the season to do anything at all decorative, but he suggests trimming the topiary, raking out the paths and the flower beds and mulching them evenly so they’re less an eye-sore. He’s committed to his current employer, but for a small commission he’ll find a trustworthy crew to take care of this immediate matter for us. Meantime, call on me for any needs whatsoever, such as escorting you this morning to these various tradesmen.”
“They should come to her,” sniffed Delia.
“No, Delia, Aufors is quite right,” she replied. “My going to them will give them dignity and increase their desire to be helpful.”
Delia went along with them, for propriety’s sake, and the three of them spent the morning going here and there, before returning to the house to await return visitations from those whose help they had just solicited. By evening, all was developing nicely: contract workers would arrive on the morrow, the cook was making shopping lists, and the butler was doing a hasty inventory of the cellars and the plate.