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"I've never been so tired in all my life!" A young girl about fifteen years of age panted as she entered the laundry room carrying a basketful of filthy clothes. Wrinkling her nose at the smell of caked mud and dried blood, she nearly retched "A good thing this sort of thing doesn't happen often, eh, Martha?"
The woman she was addressing turned around and shot her a toothy grin. "Had enough of it already, Betsy?" She shook her head in mock disapproval. "You haven't seen the worst yet, believe me, but this is close enough, I'll concede." Then returning to the basin of rinsed shirts before her, she rubbed them vigorously.
"They do say that our Lordship fought valiantly during the battle. He hardly earned a scratch!" Betsy prattled on, dumping the basket onto the ground with relief and pouring a bucket of soapy water into a fresh tub. "Pity, though, about that wife of his, although..." The tone of her voice had gone sly.
"Ho ho! Our dear Betsy sets her cap on none other than his Lordship then!" Martha burst into a bout of raucous laughter. "Get nothing but the best, eh?" The laundry room rang with tired laughter while Betsy stuck her tongue out her senior. "Mind you, we're an open-minded lot here, we are. But take care that your daydreams go no further than this room... yer'll only invite jeers if news travels beyond here!"
Pouting, Betsy continued to scrub the clothes. "When will all these folks be gone, anyway? It's not just tonnes of clothes here, but the bedsheets, pillow-cases... everything!" She threw her hands up in despair, sending a spray of soapsuds flying about to her fellow colleagues' alarm. "His Lordship's too kind, that's what's the problem! Whoever heard of soldiers bursting into the kitchen, milling around the corridors and flinging themselves onto the beds as if the place belonged to them? It ain't right..."
"It's alright as long as Lord Gerald says so, and you'd do well to remember that, Betsy Bryan." Martha was suddenly serious. "We work here for a living, and if he deems fit to bring in lepers - not that I mean any comparison here, it's good enough for us!" Caught up now by some inspiration, she added passionately. "His Lordship's enlightened, that's what! And a more compassionate ruler we'll never find. So it's an honour to work belongside him, see?" Her eyes were shining.
"As for your complaints, you lazy lout..." Her bantering tone unruffled much of Betsy's chagrin, "They'll clear out as soon as they can. They wouldn't want to catch you on your moods, girl." Reaching out to pat the girl's shoulders, she chuckled as Betsy made a face at her.
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