"Now everyone take a tray and carry it to the other table. You may not take off the book," Mrs. Cox declared sternly, and the girls, tense and nervous, each picked up a tray with their left hand.
We had been practicing for hours, as if preparing for a grand performance. Three books rested on our heads to teach us how to walk straight, but my neck was already numb from the strain. It had been a long time since I had done this, yet I still remembered the little movements Miss Fisher had taught me when I was younger.
For once, I actually felt good at something, since in the past few days I'd learned the hard way that being a maid was anything but easy. My hands ached from peeling potatoes, my knees burned from scrubbing floors, and now I had to revive my long-forgotten manners.
