There had to be a new maid.  Mrs. Pearson, Mr. Tinkerman, and Lorn had discussed it.  The plan was that eventually Lorn and Karen would be getting married, which meant three more bodies in the house and two small ones would get old enough to get into things and make messes.  It was just a part of having children.   Not to mention, likely there would be more children that come after the two marry at some point.  Lorn wanted Karen to eventually take over leading the household things with Mrs. Pearson as her assistant.  However, they would need someone to help with the laundry once that happened. 

Mrs. Pearson recommended having the youngest maid, Molly helping with Karen for now, to learn how Karen wanted it done now.  Then once the wedding took place Molly could take over the lead on the laundry as Karen took over the household budgeting and managing.  There would need to be a new maid, and when the wedding came extra hands to do it up right, would be helpful.  Lorn had agreed completely.  He assigned the job of the first interviewing to Mrs. Pearson, and when the right person was met, then Lorn would meet the woman and make a final choice.

Mrs. Pearson had scheduled several, but so far none had met what she felt fit the family and the way the staff interacted with each other yet.  Today was to be another young woman, and Mrs. Pearson hoped this one would be appropriate for them.

Delilah was nervous. She had been let go from the Carrington house for as little as getting soot in the second daughter's eyes, even though she had not been anywhere near the girl when she said it happened. Needless to say, she had to find something or she would be on the street forever.

The Vaughn estate seemed to be a good fit for her. She'd heard many good things about the kindness of the people there. In stark contrast, the Carringtons were a nasty lot. She approached and knocked upon the door. Delilah was wearing her Sunday best, she was clean, and she was ready to be interviewed.

Mr. Tinkerman opened the door.  He was a mature older man with black hair but a wave of gray at each of his temples.  Dressed properly in a black suit, crisp white shirt, and black tie.  He gave her a look of curiosity.  "May I help you?"  He asked politely but formally.

"Me name's Delilah O'Connor, I am here about the maid position that just opened up?" She was glad for her employers that came before the Carringtons, for she had plenty of good references, sans one from them. She had lost her job over nothing, literally. She'd been accused of getting soot in one of the daughter's eyes. Anne Carrington had wanted her fired, so she was.

Mr.  Tinkerman nodded.  He would have shown the young lady the side entrance but he knew that Lorn would not like that.  Mr. Vaughn was a different kind of man.  The Texan was more friends with the employees than a boss most of the time unless something was done badly.  Then the man could be stern, especially when it came to Miss Heidi or the horses.  Mr. Tink, as Miss Heidi had named him, actually liked the climate of the property.  Not that he would say so out loud. 

"Miss O'Conner, come this way.  I will lead you to the kitchen.  There is a table where we staff eat that you can wait for Mrs. Pearson.  She is the housekeeper and will be doing the interview."  He waved his arm toward the hall toward a few turns to the back of the house.  Mrs. Pearson was already there talking to Cora, the cook.  The two women looked up.

"Mrs. Pearson, this is Miss O'Conner here about the maid job."

Both women raised brows and gave the young woman a look.  Cora smiled, "Nice to meet you, Miss."  She turned to Mrs. Pearson.  "I will leave you to it.  I need to go get some things in the garden." 

Mr. Tinkerson gave a slight bow of his head to the ladies and went back to where he was working on the silver before the door had been knocked.  Mrs. Pearson indicates the large group table for the staff with chairs to the side of the kitchen area.  "Have a seat, Miss O'Connor.  I am Mrs. Pearson.  Miss Cora, the other lady is our cook."  She took a seat herself.  "I assume you have references?"

She smiled as she was escorted into the house, saying "T'ank ye," to him and then lifting a finger, "Mrs, sir, I be a widow." And then she nodded politely to everyone involved.

"Tis lovely ta meet ye," she said in kind.

"Aye, I have references," she slid over the papers she had in her reticule. She was going to be honest when asked why she got dismissed from her last job, but only if asked. Working for the Carringtons for a brief stint was sure to be a shadow on her resume with all that she found out about them in the weeks since her being fired. But a job was a job. "I've been a maid fer most of me life and have only worked three places before coming here ta Whitby. I am fiercely loyal to any family who hires me."

The butler corrected himself when introducing the woman to the housekeeper and cook. 

Mrs. Pearson looked over the letters.  "Three before coming here.  Where was that?"  She asked as she read the pages then looked at her with a calm face with no hint as to her feelings about the woman before her.

She listed off the three locations and the heads of households, and then she murmured, "And I werked fer t'e Carringtons but there was... a misunderstandin' and I lost me position." She was still salty about being fired over something she hadn't done.

There was a sudden mutter under her breath, then a polite little cough as she covered her mouth briefly to make it seem it had actually been a cough.   "Pardon me."  She was not impressed by the Carringtons', but it wasn't her place to speak badly of them.  She had heard enough from other housekeepers and maids when she had her day off and goes to town.

Though to be let go still was a concern.  "What kind of misunderstanding?"  She asked giving the woman a look.   If it were of a criminal type or of moral type, she wanted to know if it was before moving forward.  There was a young life being molded in this house, well, soon to be several, Mrs. Pearson did not want wrong examples in front of the children as they grew up.

"One of the daughters," she said, "Told her ma that one of us maids got soot in her eye and I was blamed fer it. But I wasn't anywhere near her ta get soot in her eye, mum. I would ne'er do such a thing, I swear on me husband's grave, I do." She lifted her palms upward, "I wasn't the one ta bring the logs up. I was the one who went to market and helped in the kitchen."