LADY ANN'S FOLLY: Chapter Seven - Part Three

“Undressed miss?” asked Nellie, her voice quivering.

“Yes please. And move quickly,” replied Hattie, stepping clear.

The maid stood indecisively. “Right now miss? Here?”

“Yes, quickly,” said Hattie, a little impatiently. She was nervous enough going through with this without having to mollycoddle the ignorant girl.

Where Ann had always shown a snippy petulance and irritation to servants, Hattie’s way had been cool indifference. She didn’t care for the servants in any way, obviously – that would be plain odd – but she understood people enough to know that caution of manner could beget better results at times. Seeing the worry in Nellie’s features she smoothed out the wrinkles in her voice and said, “It’ll be perfectly alright Nellie. We’re going to have a little fun together; play dress up. Did you ever play dress up when you were a little girl?”

The maid smiled shyly. “My sisters and me used to put on me mam’s dresses from time to time.”

“Good. Well this is just like that. We’re about to try out something incredible but first of all we need to swap clothes.”

“Beggin yer pardon miss, but do you mean you’re going to put on my uniform?”

Hattie regarded the black and white dress and apron with some reservations. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean. Now come on, let’s get started, shall we?” She started removing her own clothes and moving a few feet away, Nellie did the same.

Soon they were down to their underwear, Nellie standing extremely self-consciously, arms curled round her chest, Hattie more boldly, hands resting on her hips.

Now that she was in process with this plan, her cockiness had ebbed somewhat. At its conception she’d been convinced of its superiority to her sister’s preparations, but now it was about to actually happen she could spot a variety of logical holes. It was starting to make more sense to her to pull back, perhaps even abandon the whole thing, or at least postpone it for a few days. Though there was a time limit of sorts. Her uncle and aunt were leaving on Friday and it was already Tuesday night. She needed them here to put the third stage of her plan into place and any postponement was going to increase the likelihood of a problem.

“Take off your underwear now girl,” said Hattie, forcing herself to do the same. She decided to be sure her in herself, that was all. Confidence was a decision. She was doing this differently than Ann had. Things weren’t going to go wrong.

As she got closer and closer to being naked though, her own tension increased. Nellie was clearly concerned about propriety but at least she didn’t yet believe Hattie’s claims of magical powers. Hattie didn’t have the protection of ignorance. Getting closer and closer to the physical reality of becoming this girl was scaring her to death.

As Nellie removed the last of her garments and stood there looking entirely uncomfortable, Hattie sized her up, taking stock of her physical properties.

Nellie was medium height and not unattractive, but there was a banality to her features, her rather overlarge nose and long thin face, the lack of prominence to her chin. Her limbs were skinny but she carried some fat around her middle. Despite that, her complexion was clear and her blond hair was pleasing to the eye. She was nice enough looking to net a husband, Hattie supposed, but not a very handsome one.

By contrast, Hattie knew how striking she herself was. She and Ann were cut from the same cloth, though she was a little shorter and more full figured. Unlike this girl, her form was well-proportioned, her waist slim, her hips wide, her bosom generously modest. Her dark hair was soft and shiny.

Even though she knew it was so, the idea of really turning into this girl was awe-inspiring and again, Hattie received a shudder of misgiving. It might be embarrassing in a way to back out now but that was far better than the result of things going awry.

She thought about Burt, the stable hand, wondering again if that really was her sister, trapped indefinitely in the role and personality of a base-born servant. She swallowed, considering just such an end coming to herself.

Perhaps she should cut this first part out of her plan. She didn’t need to become the maid. Couldn’t the trade be done differently?

But no. It couldn’t really. In order for her to achieve her ends, she had to become this girl for just a short time.

Nellie looked at her expectantly, trying to cover her chest and crotch unsuccessfully and clearly feeling very much ill-at-ease.

Hattie toyed with the last of her underwear, giving herself just another few moments to reconsider, then she steeled herself and handed Nellie the fine undergarment. “Here,” she said perfunctorily. “Put this on and hand me yours. We don’t have time to waste.”

Nellie nodded as though her own death sentence had just been pronounced and did as she was told.