She rattled on, and Olivia sipped her milk, smiling at the easy chatter—so unlike any conversation she’d endured at Society parties.
“So would you consider it, your ladyship?”
Olivia set her cup aside, and her heart softened at the eager expression in the girl’s eyes. “How old are you, Susie?”
“I’ll be fourteen come Michaelmas.”
“You’re onlythirteen?”
Susie colored. “I’ve been in service since I was eleven, and I’m as good as any other. I know how to plait and curl hair too—did you see Nicola’s hair tonight? Did that all myself—and she’s promised to let me do her hair for the wedding. Jake’s sure to offer for Nicola now Lord Devereaux’s back. Nicola says he’ll be wanting Jake at his side to manage the estate, seein’ as they’re brothers. And I do love weddings. I love seein’ people sohappy. Da was happy when he married Ma Lucy, though Nicola disliked her at first.”
Susie paused and her eyes grew bright with moisture.
“You’re goin’ to ask that Ethel, aren’t you?” she said, her voice wavering. “She’s head housemaid, so I reckon Mrs. Brougham means for her to be your maid.”
Olivia took another sip of her milk. Doubtless propriety demandedthat she take the housekeeper’s advice. But it was her, not Mrs. Brougham, that the maid would serve. And a lady’s maid was not merely a servant who dressed her hair and tended to her clothes. Eleanor treated her maid like a trusted friend, and in return, Harriet was a great comfort, providing her mistress with company when Montague was in Town, tending to her when she was sick. Harriet had even helped deliver little Horatio when Eleanor was brought to bed four weeks before her time.
What might Olivia give for such a companion! And her heart had already warmed toward the eager girl standing before her.
She set her cup aside. “Very well, Susie, what do you say to tending to me for the next week or so, to see if we get along? Then, if we’re both happy with the arrangement, you can have the position.”
“Can Ireally?” The girl’s eyes widened with eagerness. “Thankyou, your ladyship!”
She rushed toward Olivia and wrapped her arms around her. Then she stiffened and withdrew.
“Oh, beg pardon!” she said. “I oughtn’t have done that. But you seemed so kind, and…”
Olivia placed a hand on Susie’s arm. “No harm done,” she said, smiling at the girl’s enthusiasm. “I prefer natural joy to cold propriety. Though I suppose if we’re to convince Mrs. Brougham that you’re suitable for the role, we must observe a little propriety.”
“Will you teach me how to behave properly?”
“As much as I can,” Olivia said, glancing about the chamber, “though I fear I’m also in need of instruction.” She reached behind her neck to remove her necklace, fumbling at the clasp. “Susie, would you help?”
“Of course.” The young girl removed the necklace and held it up to the light. “How pretty!”
“It’s a gift from my sister,” Olivia said. “Eleanor’s my sister by marriage, but I love her as if she were of my own blood. I’d doanything for her.”
“And I for Nicola,” Susie said, placing the necklace on the dressing table. “Shall I brush your hair? I can plait it.”
Olivia smiled and turned to face the dressing table mirror. Susie picked up a hairbrush and ran it through her hair in soft, gentle strokes.
“I hope Mrs. Brougham won’t be too angry with me,” Olivia said, almost to herself.
“Oh no!” Susie said, smiling, as she separated Olivia’s hair and began plaiting it. “She’s that delighted there’s a mistress at Penham after so many years, especially since the previous mistress came to such a tragic end.”
Olivia’s stomach gave a flutter.
“What tragic end?”
“It was before my time here, but…” Susie shook her head. “Forgive me—Mrs. Brougham said I wasn’t to gossip.”
“I’ll not tell anyone,” Olivia said. “My sister-in-law says that what happens between a lady and her maid is sacred, and each must keep the confidence of the other.”
“Very well.” Susie paused plaiting and leaned closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “The late mistress, Lord Devereaux’s mother, that was, fell to her death on the stairs.”
Sweet heaven!Charles’smother?
“Wh-when…?”
