Maddie shed her plain gray wool and stepped into the pooled skirts Alice held as footsteps tapped a circle on the wooden floor, Mr. Giles murmuring soft questions and comments. “Are we sure it will fit over the hips?” Maddie asked, though the dress was already at her waist and she was sliding her arms into the sleeves.
“It is a trifle snug,” Alice lied, her hands flying from button to button up Maddie’s spine. Only about a third of the buttons actually held the dress together; the rest were for show. “One good tug should do it—there.”
“I can’t reach to do it up,” Maddie complained, slipping her wrists through the prebuttoned cuffs.
“Of course not,” Miss Slight said, with an impatient huff. “It buttons at the back. I’ll get them. Start on the sleeves.”
“I can’t—Alice is doing up the one sleeve, and I can’t button the other one-handed.”
“Stop wriggling, or this will take twice as long.”
Maddie grinned, already dressed, ready to play her part to the hilt. She made her voice turn petulant. “What kind of woman wears something so hard to get into?”
“It’s very fashionable,” Alice retorted sharply, though her eyes were laughing.
“Is getting dressed what great ladies do instead of work, like the rest of us? Three hours to get everything buttoned and laced, an hour for tea, and then three more hours just to get it all off again?”
Alice hid a silent snicker behind her hand.
At last, Maddie stepped out from the screen, blue silk draped around her, her fingers supposedly struggling to do up the last of the small and fiddly buttons at her wrist.
“Finally,” Mrs. Money muttered, then frowned. “Your hair, girl.”
“What about my hair?”
Mrs. Money held out her hand. “You can’t wear hairpins in the cabinet—unless you fancy ending up with a singed scalp, or worse?”
As Mr. Giles watched avidly, Maddie pulled every last pin from her hair one by one. She dropped them in Mrs. Money’s hand and combed her fingers through her long auburn locks to ensure she hadn’t missed any.
“Now then,” Mrs. Money said, pulling open the cabinet door. “Inside with you.”
Maddie twisted her hands nervously. “Are you sure it’s safe, ma’am?”
Mrs. Money’s voice was all impatience. “Come, Miss Crewe, we’ve tested it a dozen times, with but a handful of accidents. Have a little courage.”
Mr. Giles looked at Maddie and twin hopes warred in his eyes. Either the experiment would succeed, or a woman he loathed would be grievously and painfully injured.
There was no chance he’d look away.
Maddie took a deep breath, made sure he could see her hands trembling, and stepped into the cabinet. Mrs. Money shut the door behind her, circled the cabinet once as if checking it over, and moved to the lever. Maddie could just see a slice of her through the cabinet holes on the left.
At her back, Maddie could feel the hook Mrs. Money had set, tight and sure in a loop of blue silk that went unseen against the trimming and detail of the dress.
“Is everything ready?” Mrs. Money called.
“Yes, ma’am,” Miss Slight said, as she and Alice pretended to scrutinize the bubbling jars.
Mrs. Money pulled the crimson lever.
Sparks flew up, blinding the eye, and an agitated hum came from the cabinet. The blue gown gleamed through the holes in the cabinet front—then gleamed a little brighter, as the secret seam tore, the blue pulled away and the gold beneath was revealed. Fabric twisted up behind Maddie, the two layers of silk whispering softly against one another as the hook turned and turned.
After another moment Mrs. Money threw the lever up and the awful humming stopped, sparks dying down and leaving everyone’s eyes dazzled.
After a beat, Maddie hammered on the door. “Mrs. Money? Mrs. Money, let me out!”
“Oh!” The widow rushed forward, struggling with the wooden latch.
Maddie wailed and pounded on the wood, as Alice and Miss Slight ran forward to help.
