Chapter Text
while those who leer or glare through him with apt fear may turn their heads in disdain to the notion, ebenezer scrooge unfortunately possessed a human heart the same as all mortal men. it was subjected to the same folly as any other, although he himself was loath to admit it, for the palpitations in muscle could be just as coiling and as binding as any slithering chain, & with worryingly no contracts required. glacial once it sat, beneath the bars of his ribcage, and it pumped methodically for one reason alone; money… until it was sparked to life as if by methodical clockwork by none other than his only maid.
a miser through and through, he refused to hire any more staff than necessary. despite his advancing years (& increasingly irksome lower back pain), he insisted on cleaning himself, which often left his home a dusty, cluttered mess, for he despised throwing anything out. not a hoarder, he simply didn't enjoy the idea of throwing expensive hardback loan books away, whether some were over twenty years old did not matter. it was only when he tripped and almost injured himself on a suitcase stuffed with banking books in his chambers did he decide that perhaps it was time to hire just one maid. eager to see the spending of his fortune over with, he sat & swiftly compiled a curt list of requirements that the most eligible maid would be able to measure up to. he blinked slowly at the preprinted series of numbers in the margin in the still silence of his office. a thick sheen of grime visible on the pages, he grumbled to himself before sneezing loudly. eyebrows lowering, he pressed his ink pen against the page…
- must be willing to submit to a long-term contractual agreement.
hardly content with doing this even once, he would want to keep the same servant until the day he left this earth. the contract added more security, so she could hardly just up and leave and destroy the safety of this upcoming routine. a beam of sunshine trickled through the dirty glass on his office window, and his head craned to stare straight through it as he thought. with a series of towering bookshelves in front of his weighty desk (neither of which had been dusted in god knows how long, especially the tips of the bookshelves), and a large gridded window to his right side, the room's dark aesthetics were not unlike the one his other office had. it was typical of scrooge to keep everything the same. for him, it meant peace of mind. after all, what older man would want such turbulent differences in his lifestyle? yes, sophisticated, mature gentleman such as himself knew what they wanted. something, someone reliable.
- must be childless, single, & ideally hoping to remain as such.
nostrils curling up, his mind reeled back to his other employees. vaguely, he remembers bob cratchit as being a father. a fact he would frequently forget & remember, as though the memory kept resurfacing from the deepest waters of his internal monologue. what a man in such a strained situation was doing procreating was beyond scrooge (not utterly, the ticking of the pocket watch close to his heart whispers, perhaps he understood long ago). the distant squeal of laughing children causes him to pull his head away, now facing a series of crates on the left side of his desk. each was marked with ageing stickers, all in his own fanciful handwriting, noting the date, contents (they all were for some different avenue of accountancy), and expenditure & subsequent revenue. it made him smile bitterly.
- must be young, hard-working, obedient.
once more, he was hoping to keep this one woman for many years to come. not once did his image of the perfect maid appear as a woman any older than fifty.
- must be willing to live on the property indefinitely.
of course, his mansion had many, many spare bedrooms that were all essentially counting offices now (once this house had the chance at being a family home. now it was little more than an office block, nestled between actual living & breathing homes as though it was playing pretend). most were filled to the breaking point with important accountancy paperwork, but a spot could be made for her. she'd get the smallest room, of course. it was most customary for maids to sleep either under the stairs or in the attic, out of sight & out of mind, but alas they had become so overwrought with various items & furniture, that he had doubt if even he could squeeze her inside, no matter how much his wallet may have preferred him to do so.
behind him, the echoing of a creaking door broke him from his thoughts. slowly, he swivelled the chair around to meet the eyes of a sniffing pooch. unsurprised to see her, he plucked his silver watch from his waistcoat pocket, snapping it shut before his eyes could trail to the words inscribed on the interior of the casing. grumbling, he rolled his eyes, but gently petted her head regardless. she nuzzled into it reluctantly. “of course. look at the time. that's why you're here, isn't it, dinner? psh.” scoffing, he quickly spun his chair around again, earning a confused noise from prudence.
- must be good with animals, particularly dogs.
it took a sacrifice, working under a man as infamous as ebenezer scrooge. notorious for not paying his workers a decent salary & being "scum of the earth" to the working class, the hours & labour would be arduous & long, & the pay would be meagre at best. however, some saw a niche opportunity in this. for if a maid or servant was willing to work for a man such as ebenezer scrooge, then surely they would have already proven that they are more than able to handle any task from any other home. alas, those intrigued by the prospect of fattening their resume were swift to turn on their heels once they heard the employment was long-term. there was, also, the curious matter surrounding his age. with not many branches left on the scrooge family tree, & with nobody to leave his vast fortune he had squeezed out of london, this left some sniffing at this job listing in the newspaper due to the possibility of some inheritance money. this was also snuffed out due to scrooge's ability to sense what they really wanted from him. it takes one to know one, after all.
after about twenty or more failed interviews, scrooge pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a surging headache building in his mind. was there really not one employable person in this district, not even in all of london? had he really spun up such a sour reputation? winter was fast approaching, surely some poor fool down on her luck should end up wandering in, correct? as spiders entrap desperate flies, scrooge understood desperation & how it always gave him, & particularly him alone, good results. a gentle tapping at the front door caused the man to open his eyes. definitely yet another maid or butler. rising from his office chair, prudence waddled to the hallway from her bed as her master rubbed his back & leaned against the front door. staring through the peephole, the lens was frosted & obscured due to the late autumn air, but he could just about piece together the face of a young lady.
opening the door, he took in the sight of a young woman. she held a black briefcase in one hand, smartly dressed in a typical maid's uniform befitting for the job in this period. upon seeing the man had opened his door, you greeted him by lowering your head slightly. “hello mr. scrooge. i'm here to enquire about the job listing you posted in the paper, seeking a maid of the house for your home?”
huffing through his nostrils, he didn't have the energy to explain that he had just greeted about twenty or more people in the exact same fashion, so he supposed his attitude would have no explanation. no matter, if anything it was better this way. “yes yes, come through, quick now, we'll talk in my office.”
tailing him through the wide entryway to his home, you wiped your feet on the doormat before noticing prudence. panting as though she were merrily greeting you, you responded with a small smile and a subtle wave, which earned some trust from the animal as you had been the first to notice her out of all the interviewees. the others had been too swept up in the imposing snowstorm of scrooge's icy attitude to pay much attention to anything else. tall, scowling, and broad, most of the young maids found him frightful. after a contemplative walk along the drab carpets aligned with unkempt windows, with a click, he shut the office door closed behind you both. he gestured loosely to a seat placed in front of his desk, while he manoeuvred to sit behind it.
“so, your name, young lady?” taking your seat, you rested your briefcase next to the chair leg. catching yourself, you straighten to sit with an appropriate posture. “y/n l/n, mr. scrooge.” sifting through the papers on his desk, he pulled out your resume, his eyes scanning the words.
“not much experience i see…” murmured the miser in a disappointed & probing tone, you gulped, eyes scouring the office helplessly.
“ah, yes. but for what i lack in experience, i consolidate with an enormous eagerness to work, sir.” this seemed to stir his attention somewhat. blue iris' glanced up at you from underneath his brown eyebrows. all the applicants hadn't had much experience, given that they were young this was to be expected, only you had been the first to have the guts to answer him, and quickly too. humming, he glanced at the list of requirements he had penned days prior.
“are you willing to sign a contract ensuring long-term employment?”
“yes.”
“you are unwed & childless, and shall remain as such?”
“yes.” with a hum, he continued.
“do you consider yourself a hard worker, obedient?”
“indeed.”
“you are willing to take residence on the property too, yes?”
nodding, a smile didn't quite reach your features, just the echoes of one. “mhm, yes.”
the back of his chair creaked behind him as he pushed himself from it, leaning forward somewhat as though he was sharing an embarrassing secret. eyelashes fluttering owlishly, you wondered whatever was so mysterious that he felt the need to draw in closer.
“and, you are good with dogs, animals, yes?”
this question was muttered lower than the other ones, his pupils directed towards the window on the right. perhaps admitting he had a pet, also meant admitting he was at least partially human & not in fact a well oiled machine, and the fact made him ache with embarrassment.
“yes. i love big dogs, i saw your dog on the way in.” the cleverer thing to do would have been to simply respond with a yes, but you almost felt sorry for him due to his sheepish demeanour, so went with a friendlier reply amidst a sea of curt responses. with a satisfied hum, he sat back again.
standing up, scrooge idly paced to the window, his hands clasped together behind his back.
“you've coloured me curious. you seem to be the model candidate, but what's a young lady such as yourself doing in the middle of london just before winter, presumably jobless, homeless, and husband… less?” looking up at him, you felt small when he towered over you like this.
“i was a farm girl from up north. my mother died recently and i have found myself penniless. with little else to do, why, i made the very desperate and brash decision to run away to london with my last few coins. figuring it'd have capital opportunities seeing as well,” you laughed softly. “it's the capital. anyway, i was quite naive and foolish on that front, seeing as how we are facing a harrowing winter. now, you see someone vowing to not make foolish choices ever again, someone who merely wishes to redeem themselves in the eyes of an employer from their own ridiculousness through grit and hard work.”
turning, strands of his swept brown locks swayed with his movements. not expecting a thorough answer, his eyes bore right through your soul, causing a chill to rake through your very bones. still, you did not waver, making eye contact. “you'll get no soulful redemption through songs of praise from a man such as myself, dear, but i'd love to see the amount of work you claim you're willing to put in to wrangle them from my throat.”
hearing of your desperation, scrooge swooped into you like a predator over a limping, meek animal. he was intrigued, for it was quite bracing to break a bird's wings. some frilly thing from the countryside? only through hardship could someone be chiselled into a good worker, you no doubt had faced early mornings and labour on a farm too. once more, you had something to prove. this was perfect.
for a beat longer, he regarded you. for a split second, you saw his blue eyes size you up and down. if you were a man, you'd ponder if he was preparing for an altercation, but as you are a woman, it almost brought other much more suggestive images to mind. this, of all things, was what finally caused you to turn away. it made him smirk to see the effect he had on you, hilariously & very wrongfully assuming he'd merely unnerved you.
“… you're hired.” your head spun around to face him again, mouth agape. pacing towards his chair, it clicked as he sat down again. shuffling the various papers clouding the surface of his desk, you watched, intrigued. it looked like chaos to you, but he seemed to have his own internalized sorting system for what he'd laid out. “sign here,” pushing a legally binding contract in front of you, he passed you his ink pen alongside it. “this contract expires in ten years, but we shall probably renew it before that time. assuming this arrangement all transpires smoothly, of course.”
tentatively, you plucked the pen & paper from his grip. then… you started to read the entire parchment. this caused him to quirk up one thick eyebrow. you could read? surprising indeed. he hadn't expected as much from a farm girl. opting to say nothing, he merely sat back and allowed you to read it, somewhat taken aback by your aloofness to the possibility of infuriating him by taking your time. frankly, he enjoyed it. enjoyed the smartness you displayed that came with understanding a serious decision and thinking through it thoroughly.
after about five to ten minutes of reading, you suddenly looked up from the contract, picking up the slender, pointed pen again. the chilling silence was broken by the scribbling of your name along a dotted line. scrooge glanced up at you from a loan book he'd procured in the background to pass the time. “so, i hope i start, well, immediately?”
the edges of his lips curl upwards.
“indeed. follow along, miss, i'll show you to your quarters.”