Page 67 of Dukes All Night Long
M iss Lucy Potts smoothed out the wrinkles of Miss Adeline’s brown dress.
She traced her fingers over the fine, silk folds and felt something tighten in her chest. Was it melancholy or regret?
She didn’t know. She may only be three months into her first job in service, but she hadn’t lost her love of fine fabrics or the richer pleasures in life.
Unlike so many other women in service, Lucy hadn’t been born into it.
She had come from a good family, a noble one, that had fallen on hard times.
A series of bad investments had erased generations of wealth, and when her father and mother had passed away and left her and her sister nothing but debts, Lucy’s life had changed irrevocably.
She had stayed with her younger sister, Belle, and Belle’s husband for a time, but that had become unbearable within months.
Her sister had been readily accepted into the family and they lived together with his family in their grand estate.
But arriving to stay as the poor older sister, Lucy was considered a failure with no prospects.
Politeness had given way to barbed quips and not-so-subtle digs at dinner.
Left with no other tolerable option, Lucy had decided to pursue work and thanks to a good word from her sister’s mother-in-law, had soon secured a position as a second lady’s maid to Miss Adeline Azalea, the daughter of a wealthy baronet in Potters Bar, near London.
She might not have been the best at dressing hair, but she could sew, clean, and mend clothes and assist Miss Azalea’s other lady’s maid with the idea of one day becoming a proper lady’s maid herself.
But sharing a room with another maid and sleeping in a tiny, narrow bed on the upper floor of a drafty townhouse was a far cry from life in her family’s grand Hertfordshire estate.
To go from being waited on to suddenly having to run and wait on others, only to receive critique and rudeness, threatened to drain her spirit.
But Lucy hoped that one day, her fortunes would change.
That afternoon, Lucy glanced at her employer, who was currently admiring her own reflection in a mirror. Miss Adeline stood of an average height, with glossy, black hair; hazel eyes; fair skin with rosy cheeks and freckles; and, Lucy had been warned, a mean streak.
Lucy stood of a similar height with thick, mousy-brown hair; brown eyes with almond flecks in them; and pale skin. She stood back as Miss Adeline took a freshly pressed dress out of her closet and then dropped it on the dress Lucy had folded. “Pack this. I’ll wear this one instead.”
“Yes, miss.”
“And don’t forget to pack one of my evening dresses. Use the white one. It’s to be a masquerade, after all.”
“What will you be going as?”
“A swan. I love feathers.”
Lucy swallowed. She hadn’t seen any feathered mask or shawl, and none of the maids had mentioned anything of the sort. “Where will you get the feathers?”
Miss Adeline took a pillow from her bed and tossed it at her. “Use this. And fetch me another pillow to sleep with. You can fashion a mask and dress to look like a swan, can’t you?”
“Y-Yes, but…” A dress like that would take time to craft. Days, usually. Not hours.
“We leave tomorrow,” Miss Adeline said. “So I’ll need my traveling trunk packed and ready. You should be ready too.” She took a deep breath. “Oh, and I’ll need you to chaperone me as well. My companion decided to catch a fever, so she’s not coming. You’ll have to do.”
“What about Miss Jones?” Lucy asked, referring to the elderly lady’s maid who usually handled Miss Adeline’s hair, clothing, and travel arrangements.
“She’s not much for traveling these days. Isn’t that partially why we hired you? So you could step into her role when necessary? I mean, if a little trip is too much work…”
“Not at all, miss.” Lucy fretted inwardly. Her, chaperone her mistress? She would need a dress. And what if someone recognized her from her former life? What would she say?
“Good.” Miss Adeline sailed out of the room.
Feathers flew through the air as Lucy set out packing her mistress’s traveling trunk and bags.
Miss Adeline did not know the meaning of traveling light , and so what she viewed as the bare minimum entailed a number of travel bags, trunks, and boxes, all filled with dresses, coats, hats, gloves, boots, slippers, and extra shifts and stays, as well as cosmetics, jewelry, and toiletries.
At the mention of her sudden task for Miss Adeline, the more experienced servants exchanged knowing looks.
Two left to hunt down an old papier-mache mask for her to decorate, whilst another made Lucy a cup of tea.
Lucy spent all night working affixing feathers to an old papier-mache mask some of the other servants had found in the attic and the white dress for Miss Adeline.
Finally, in the early hours of the morning, she climbed into a carriage with her mistress and set off. “Where are we going?” Lucy asked.
“Oh, you don’t know? We’re off to the old Minsden house. Minsden Manor, it’s called. It’s where the Duke of Minsden lives when he’s out in the country. Although I guess now that the duke’s nephew is back from university, his son is throwing a party. Should be a jolly night.”
The carriage drove out of London and past Highbury, on the long road out of the city and north toward Hertfordshire. The skies turned gray with rain, and soon light patters of raindrops hit the windows, casting a misty gloom outside.
Lucy hugged her thin day coat tighter around her, earning Miss Adeline’s attention.
Miss Adeline picked a bit of imaginary lint off of her own new walking coat. “Your clothes. They’re a bit nicer than what a maid would wear. Did your former mistress give them to you?”
“No, I—”
“You should have sold them and bought yourself something new. They’re two years out of date.”
Lucy bit the inside of her cheek. So what if they were old? They were the only ones she had. The others she’d sold to pay for her father’s funeral and debts. She held her tongue.
“You don’t talk like a normal servant would, either.”
Lucy ducked her head a fraction and tried not to yawn.
Coming from a good household, she’d had proper instruction from a governess and had learned elocution lessons.
She didn’t try to emulate the language patterns of her fellow servants, as she partially didn’t always understand the range of accents one might find in a London household, but she also felt she’d be untrue to herself to copy the other servants.
Using different verbs wouldn’t help ease her way into camaraderie with the other servants she worked with.
They might even judge her for it. So she kept to herself, even if it meant she was a bit lonely.
And even though she’d had a good word from her sister’s mother-in-law, it didn’t really count as experience or a proper reference.
The other servants had never heard of her and after it had become clear she hadn’t spent years in service like the rest of them, a few had shunned her company.
Others felt bad for her, and she’d had to work hard and take on extra work to prove herself.
This little trip at least would be a welcome break from their pointed comments and hard stares.
But one or two others, like those who had found the papier-mache mask, had treated her with kindness and wished her luck, so it wasn’t all bad.
The rain gained strength and now properly struck the windows of the carriage as the wind moaned outside. The day began to look quite dark and moody, like out of a Gothic novel.
“Brr, I hate the rain. I can’t stand a storm,” Miss Adeline said.
“At least there will be entertainment. The Duke of Minsden’s nephew should be interesting.
Bit surprising, considering we’ve never met, but then one does tend to know about others in the same social sphere.
” She examined her nails. “The duke’s nephew is sure to be handsome and rich.
I wouldn’t doubt it if all sorts of women threw themselves at him.
Not that it would help. A real gentleman would hold himself higher than that.
Anyway, I only hope it won’t all be old people at the ball. That would be horrid.”
Lucy nodded, and soon she and Miss Adeline both fell asleep to the sounds of the rain.
Hours later, they arrived at the country estate.
A rather Gothic building, Minsden Manor was dark and forbidding.
It overlooked the green grounds with expressive stone gargoyles and shaded diamond-paned windows.
Just the sight of it in the waning afternoon light made Lucy shiver.
The way the manor stood still amongst the disturbed chaos of the grounds and the rain, as though nothing might affect it, chilled her. Something didn’t feel right.
The carriage pulled up inside a well-tended courtyard, and Lucy climbed out, instantly pelted by the rain.
She helped the footmen bring down Miss Adeline’s traveling trunks and narrowed her eyes against the rain, squinting as the wet wind struck her face, making her brown hair plaster to the back of her neck and sides of her face.
“Ugh, do I have to get out?” Miss Adeline asked. “Can’t the carriage just go around until the rain stops?”
“Allow me,” a male voice said, and Lucy turned to find a young, well-dressed man standing behind her, holding an umbrella. He brushed past Lucy and stepped close to the carriage door. “You can come with me, miss.”
Miss Adeline rose from her seat and allowed the young man to escort her from the carriage.
Lucy followed the pair to a stone archway, which thankfully provided shelter from the rain.
“Thank you,” Miss Adeline said, holding on to the man’s arm. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. I can’t bear to be out in the rain. I couldn’t stand looking like a wet rat.” Her eyes flicked to Lucy.