Anna’s head shook like it was about to come off. But Stephen didn’t hit her. Which came as something of a surprise.
“I will check with Their Serene Highnesses to see if you are to be dismissed,” he warned ominously. And that’s what he did.
* * *
Karl and his uncles were still discussing the effects of the up-timers when Stephen knocked politely on the door.
“Enter!” Stephen heard Prince Gundaker’s voice call. From the sound of it, it seemed unlikely that Anna would keep her position, which Stephen regretted. As harsh as he sometimes was with the under-servants, he did feel a responsibility to them.
“About the incident at supper?” he asked. Normally he would have dealt with the matter on his own and simply kept Anna out of sight of the nobility for a while. But he wasn’t at all sure how the up-timers would react.
“Now see!” Gundaker glared at Karl. “Your girl’s lack of manners mean we have a discipline problem among the servants. We’ll have to let the serving girl go, and it wasn’t really her fault.”
“There is no need to discharge the girl, Uncle.” Karl snorted. “If you discharge every girl Sarah is polite to, you’ll soon run out of servants.”
“Maybe it will teach your young woman a lesson,” Gundaker huffed. “Let the girl go and tell Sarah Wendell von Up-time why you’re doing it.”
“Stephen,” Karl interrupted. “Tell Sarah first.”
As Stephen left, he saw young Prince Karl looking at his uncle and shaking his head.
* * *
While Anna was wondering what her fate would be, the young ladies of the Barbie Consortium-now joined by Sarah-were finishing up their discussion. “Come on, Sarah,” said Susan. “You’re the economic theorist. Industrialization is not a cure for serfdom. If all that is going on is industrialization, it’s going to make things worse. Look at what’s happening in Poland.”
“You need a big consumer base,” Sarah insisted, “and without industrialization you can’t get that.”
“Eventually,” Susan said. “But at least in the short run, industrialization means a labor glut, because you need fewer farmers and craftsmen to produce the same amount of goods.”
“Yes and no. That same labor glut means you have the labor you need to get new industries off the ground. The real issue is whether you have a class of people ready and able to invest in those industries. In Poland, you don’t, because the great magnates would rather plow their wealth back into grain production-and to make sure they have the labor force they need, they’ve reimposed serfdom. They do some industrialization, but it’s more or less an afterthought and they use serfs as a labor force. The political and social situation is different in western and central Europe and the Ring of Fire is giving a big boost to the factors that keep pushing things forward here. It’s just. .”
“You didn’t expect to run headlong into Polish attitudes here in Austria,” Judy said.
“It makes sense, though,” Susan said. “Information has been flowing out of the Ring of Fire like mad ever since it happened. And for the most part, the lords of Europe have said yes to the technical stuff and a resounding no to the social stuff. So Austria-Hungary has the new plows, but all it means is that the lord of the manor can afford to throw half his peasants out and have that much more profit.”
Sarah’s expression got exasperated. “What ‘lords of the manor,’ Susan? Land tenure in Austria isn’t medieval. The core of the farming population is a class of prosperous farmers-peasants, not nobles, but they’re well-off peasants-who hire local labor on an annual basis. They’ll replace some of that labor force by adopting new equipment and techniques, sure, but they haven’t got enough money to do it quickly. Hell, even back up-time you didn’t see a massive mechanization of agriculture until the twentieth century.” She remembered the figures because she’d been struck by them at the time. “In 1900 almost forty percent of the American population was still engaged in farming. By the time of the Ring of Fire at the end of the century, that had dropped to three percent.”
“And your point is. .?”
“My point is obvious. We’re a long way from seeing a huge displacement of farm labor. There’s enough of a free labor force for industrialization to get started here, but the big problem Austria faces is a lack of capital. The damn idiots-the brains of the nobility are still mired in the Middle Ages, most of them-still think in terms of licenses and monopolies instead of investment. There are some exceptions, my fiance being one of them-Wallenstein’s another, up in Bohemia-but there aren’t enough yet.”
There was a knock on the door and Trudi went to answer it. It was Snooty from this afternoon. Stephen-something or other. Trudi didn’t think she had been told his last name. The majordomo, at least among the nontitled servants. Trudi stepped out and closed the door behind her. “Yes?”
“I need to speak with Sarah Wendell von Up-time.” Stephen was clearly not happy about his mission.
“In regard to?”
“There was an, ah. . incident at table. .”
“So I heard.”
“Prince Gundaker has decided that to maintain discipline among the house staff, the serving girl will be dismissed.” Stephen paused. “I am instructed to inform Lady Sarah of the dismissal and the reason for it.”
Trudi looked at Stephen. Then she turned and opened the door gesturing him inside. Trudi wasn’t sure what was going to happen but she had no doubt she was about to see fireworks.
As they came into the sitting room, Sarah was saying, “Barbaric customs. Maybe we should leave Ferdinand III and the whole bunch to stew in their own juices.”
Trudi wasn’t sure how much English Stephen had but he had apparently gotten at least some of it. She made a sweeping gesture and announced, “Here is Stephen, majordomo of Liechtenstein Palace, with a message for Sarah Wendell von Up-time.”
Silence. Every eye in the room was on the unfortunate Stephen. Stephen delivered his message.
“Was Prince Karl there when his uncle gave you your instructions?” Sarah asked, with a chill in her voice that suggested really bad things for the Ken Doll.
Trudi watched as Stephen swallowed. “Yes. It was he who insisted I inform you before dismissing Anna.”
“Smart boy,” Judy the Younger said.
Sarah looked at Judy with a question in her eyes.
“You were telling Karl all the way here that he wasn’t to run interference for you,” Judy reminded her sister. “Something about not wanting people to think that you couldn’t take care of yourself?”
Sarah nodded.
“So he made sure you would be informed before the servant. .” Judy turned to Stephen. “Anna, was it?” When he nodded, she turned back to her sister. “. . before Anna got her walking papers. And let you, well, us, deal with the matter as we see fit. He’s probably up there right now taking bets on how quickly you’re going to rip Gundaker’s guts out.”
Sarah had calmed down a little while Judy was talking. “Tempting as that thought is, it won’t help, ah, Anna. So how do we deal with this? Pack up our bags and move out?”
“Not at all.” Judy’s grin was very barracuda-ish. “I think it’s quite convenient. We were going to have to hire servants anyway. Prince Gundaker is graciously releasing one for us to hire. What is Anna paid?”
When Stephen told her, she shook her head. “That won’t do at all. Trudi, would you be a dear and go with Stephen here? And when he fires Anna, hire her. Pay her fifty percent more than she is getting now. It’s not like we’re short on Austro-Hungarian banknotes.” The girls had engaged in a bit of arbitrage before coming to Vienna, buying up Ferdinand’s silver certificates in Grantville where they were worth considerably less than they were in Vienna.
Trudi was stealing glances at Stephen while Judy was talking, wondering how he would respond. Apparently he was going to object. Which showed commendable loyalty to his boss, but perhaps not the greatest wisdom.