Lady Ann's Folly - What has Gone on Before

Hereunder you will find the story in brief that is more intricately told in the novel Lady Ann’s Holiday. Read this by way of introduction to the forthcoming continuing adventures of our titular heroine.

To learn the story in full you will find it most palatable to read the extended and improved version of the tale available from that most esteemed vendor, Amazon. With much added material by the talented authoress, that expanded edition of the story contains plenty that has been inserted to provide greater context for the tale to come that did not appear in the original serial presented in this fine publication. 

 

It is spring 1908 and Lady Ann Neville is the spoiled eldest daughter of the Earl Howard Neville and his wife Elizabeth. She lives with her parents and younger sister Hattie in their expansive stately home, Griply Hall, not far from the village of Griply in a long river valley in central Yorkshire.

Ann is petulant and self-important and when she is told she must keep her elderly grandmother company in London she angrily seeks any way out of her predicament.

Fortune soon grants her the opportunity when she finds a stone pendant with magical properties: the ability for two people to trade their lines of fate. With physical contact, the pendant held between, one person will transform into the other and take on their destiny.

Impulsively, Ann seeks out a lowly stable hand on the estate named Burt Harper who is entirely devoted to her. She persuades him to take her place and then organises the exchange in a secluded spot.

Soon Ann has become the muscular and very masculine Burt, and Burt is bewildered to find himself a beautiful titled lady.

The pair swap lives for the evening and Ann sets about enjoying the freedom of being a man, frittering the money she secreted away for the purpose. She takes great pleasure in pretending to really be a common man and beds Burt’s slutty girlfriend Mavis. It both surprises and delights her when she finds herself talking with the start of a Yorkshire accent.

Burt meanwhile, does his best to fit into the cultured high life within the manor house but finds it impossibly difficult.

The next morning, Ann realises that unless she writes herself a note, she will be trapped working as a labourer and stablehand for the fortnight, but when she tries to do so, she realises that she can no longer write properly. She hasn’t just gained Burt masculine looks, she has gained his limited brain and the education that comes with it. Getting desperate, she finds and persuades the new Ann to write the note for her, something Burt achieves to perfection with the practiced handwriting of a cultured lady.

Exposed to her new rank in the pecking order, Ann doesn’t enjoy being put in her place, but it is too late to change her mind now as Burt leaves in her body, leaving her stuck in his for two full weeks.

When he arrives in London, Burt is taken in hand by his new grandmother the minute he opens his mouth to reveal his total lack of breeding. She schools him in the proper way to act and speak and soon he is settling into the ways of an upper class woman. With frequent trips to the theatre and socialising with the right sort of people, Burt gains plenty of practice at being Lady Ann. In the hopes of doing it better and thereby not letting Ann down, Burt sinks himself into the role, telling himself over and over again that he really is Lady Ann. This helps the magic along and continues to alter his patterns of speech and ways of thinking. Soon he is mistreating servants, talking exactly like a lady and coming to understand the interest women have in men.

In Yorkshire, Ann is enjoying herself immensely, settling into the carefree life of a man of leisure. She loves drinking and fighting and having her wicked way with many a strumpet, and she too reiterates who she is now, knowing it will help her become more and more like the original Burt. Soon she is able to talk with a broad Yorkshire accent which she finds hilarious, but the hilarity fades a little when she realises she’s stuck like that. No matter how hard she tries she can’t talk posh at all no more! Worse, it isn’t just her education that’s dribbled away, her brain power has clearly been greatly reduced. She is truly becoming a lower class simpleton in word and deed.

Ann fights against this ongoing transformation but finds it impossible to and in the end goes on encouraging the changes to go still further. She feels that she might as well revel in her new lower class masculinity while she has the chance. It will go away when she changes back at the end of the fortnight.

While this is going on up north, Burt meets the handsome Lord Richard Hurley and before he knows it, they are courting! Lord Hurley is a rich and powerful titled businessman and he takes Burt on a whirlwind romance that leaves the former stablehand very confused. He is still devoted to his Lady Ann but as the days go by he is developing deep feelings for this most eligible bachelor.

Ignorant of these developments, Ann continues to enjoy being a salt-of-the-earth Yorkshireman, but her luck changes when she loses the last of her money on a horse race. Angry and stupid, she attacks a man whom Mavis is planning to bed for money and is caught in the act by the Earl. He is furious to find two of his subjects fighting and locks Ann in the stocks overnight.

Ann is rudely awakened to the limitations of her new rank and forced to accept her place in the hierarchy. Because of the continuing effects of the pendant’s magic, this actually alters her personality, making her more subservient and diminishing her confidence.  Even when she is released, she is now penniless and is forced to truly become a working man, labouring in the fields. Desperate now to return to her former self, Ann eagerly awaits Burt’s return, several days distant.

 But in London, Burt is falling in love with Lord Hurley and though he still plans to return and keep his promise, when Richard proposes marriage he eagerly accepts. He feels guilty for trapping Lady Ann in his former life but his personality has shifted enough now to allow her former selfishness to influence his actions.

When Burt doesn’t return on time, the note granting Ann her holiday no longer applies and she is thrust into his life in full, clearing up horse dung and labouring around the estate. She has no choice in the matter without money or other options and her new increasing servility scratches away at her resolve. Soon Ann is living Burt’s former life in every way; looking, talking and acting like him as well. To make matters worse, the memories of her former life are slipping away, to be replaced by memories of Burt’s life. Soon there will be little difference between her and the former servant!

Down in the capital, Burt is enjoying the celebrations for his future marriage. He is visited by the Earl and Countess and his new sister Hattie and greatly enjoys being part of this upper class family. He too is taking on memories of his new life and these help to cement his resolve to keep that life forever.

In Griply, Ann becomes more and more obsequious and fawning to her superiors, perhaps even more so than the original Burt. The stress of her lost life causes her to start fantasising about losing herself completely within her Burt persona. As her last hope of ever regaining her body fails, she is approached by a gypsy who claims to be able to solve her problems. If she imbibes a potion the gypsy gives her then her soul will change to mach her body and she will at last find peace. Seeing no other way out and desperate for the horror to end, Ann swallows the potion and all but completes her transformation into a humble servant.

Burt’s perfect life meanwhile starts to show a spattering of cracks. Lord Hurley isn’t demonstrative in his affections and Burt starts to wonder if a life with him will lack passion. Before this can come to a head however, Burt is kidnapped and held for ransom by a group of nefarious thugs, underscoring his own new feminine frailty. The experience shakes Burt to the core and even when rescued by Lord Hurley, he decides to go back to his old life the first chance he gets.

Hundreds of miles away, Ann no longer even knows who she used to be. She has lost herself in her new role completely. She wins a local boxing match, beds the vicar’s wife and wins back the estranged Mavis, but when she catches a glimpse of who she once was, she realises she has to retrieve the pendant at all costs.

Ann sneaks into Griply Hall but she is caught in the act by her former sister, Hattie, who alerts the Earl to the intrusion. In punishment, Ann is flogged and thrown in gaol but at least her brief contact with the pendant has frozen any changes from continuing. She will no longer forget herself. But that makes things worse as it seems she will be sent to prison for years for a long list of crimes the Earl finds to throw at her.

Finding out about Ann’s fate, Burt hurries back to Yorkshire with Richard but it is too late. Ann is sentenced to sixteen years’ imprisonment.

Before she can be taken away however, Howard Neville has a change of heart but is forced to bribe the judge to release the servant. This puts him in trouble with the authorities and both he and the Countess blame Hattie for causing the mess in the first place. He is summoned to York to be dressed down by the local MP.

Restored to her position as stable hand, Ann is so relieved she vows never to try to escape her life of servitude again. Soon however, Ann arrives, putting everything into question.

The initial chance to swap again is interrupted and over the next few days, both Ann and Burt consider what life would be like if they went back or stayed as they are.

To add to the intrigue, Lord Hurley mentions to Ann that it was he that brought the pendant to Griply, purchased in his home town of Nockton Vale from a gypsy who bears a striking similarity to the one that the former Ann met.

Things come to a head at last when the new Ann decides to throw the pendant into the river. Pursued by the new Burt on horseback, the pair have a final confrontation. Burt professes his new love for the lady before him but she spurns him and when he does, he demands she swap them back.

A battle of wills ensues that the new Burt is doomed to lose. He is, after all, nothing but a servant now and his every instinct is to follow his orders. But feeling guilty, Ann changes her mind, offering to swap back after all.

It is the new Burt’s choice to remain as he is. Now that he has his opportunity, he realises that he is far happier as a simple man and a servant who knows his place. He refuses the offer of additional pay and returns to his new life as a working man.

The new Ann is left feeling somewhat conflicted, unsure if she made the right choice. Her life is as constricted now as the former Ann’s was except she is destined for a passionless marriage with the stuffy and selfish Lord Hurley whose plans for her involve her total obedience to his mother at his family estate in Nocton Vale.

As the new Ann spies on Burt as he beds his slutty girlfriend Mavis, she starts to envy their coupling; not to become Burt again – being a man would seem strange now – but to be Mavis herself, the lascivious barkeep’s daughter.

For she still owns the pendant, doesn’t she? And becoming Mavis is fully within her power.

What if she were to swap with the girl, just for a short time? Just long enough to bed Burt?

Surely nothing could go wrong with that...