LADY ANN'S FOLLY: Chapter Eight - Part Two

With the door shut, Nellie found herself suddenly and unexpectedly alone and only now did it occur to her that Lady Harriet had been about to explain something to her and that she should have prevented her being sent out.

She went to the door and opened it, looking down the landing in the direction of Powell’s receding voice. The butler was chastising who he thought was the manor’s newest maid, telling her off for being slow at following instruction. They were still well within calling distance but as Nellie opened her mouth to shout them back she didn’t find the breath for it.

The immediacy of her own situation came back to her and the idea of pulling the pair back lost all urgency. She took another look at her elegant manicured hand in her beautiful, expensive dress and grinned, going straight back into the room with a glance to see if anyone had seen her. She shut the door and pressed back against it then hurried across to the mirror, beaming at the reflection shining back at her in the lamplight.

It wasn’t a fancy. She really had swapped places with the cultured lady. She was Lady Harriet!

“I’ve never seen nothing like it,” she murmured, fingering her cheek and lips. She spoke the words again, letting her full rosebud lips press back against her slim fingertips until the smile that was simmering there grew into a grin and stopped her. “Never seen nothing... Wow.”

She took a longer look at her new dress, testing the luxurious fabric with her sense of touch, then she hurried to the wardrobe and threw back the doors, jerking to look at the entrance to the room in case anyone might come and catch her.

But what if they did? She was Lady Harriet now. They would have to ask instruction from her!

Though another thought occurred to her that instantly eliminated the shine on her heart.

What if the Countess entered? Or worse, the Earl himself? What would she say then? The very idea of facing one of them in what suddenly felt like a very flimsy disguise was deeply disquieting. Nellie’s breathing altered, becoming tight. She closed the wardrobe door and stood fearfully, hands gripped at her stomach.

But a minute passed, and then another, and no one came. No one was going to come. She recalled what the butler had said. The older generation were going to bed early. Nobody was going to disturb her now.

She tentatively opened the wardrobe door again and looked in, marvelling at the vibrant colours of the pretty dresses within. Why, she could wear any of them now – any that she chose!

She looked again toward the door.

But what if Hattie came back to talk to her again? What if she found her emptying the wardrobe and having her way with all of its contents? She would be told off terribly!

Nellie chewed her lip uncertainly. Then she closed the wardrobe door again.

Better not to risk it. She wouldn’t be allowed to stay this way for long. She would have to become herself again shortly, surely. She daren’t risk being caught causing a mess and acting with disrespect for her ladyship’s things.

So instead, Nellie sat on the chaise longue as composed as she had the breeding for and waited.

She waited for a long time. Hours. No one came. Lady Harriet never came back to give her further instructions. She started to worry that something bad had happened to her mistress, that she would be trapped in this new body. Then she started to daydream about how wonderful that would be: forced to take on the life and role of a sophisticated lady. She imagined the balls and the suitors. She imagined being served by servants and giving out orders. She imagined really being Lady Harriet Neville.

Still no one came. Hattie did not reappear to demand the return of her body. For all Nellie knew she had been made to do chores for the rest of the evening and was now sharing a bed with Lottie, the other maid.

She smiled to think of such a thing, closing her eyes; drifting closer to sleep, leaning into the corner rest of the chaise longue, her head resting on her hand.

Behind her eyelids she went on imagining an extended stay in this strange new life, knowing it could not happen but secretly wishing that it would.

To be Lady Harriet rather than plain old Nellie Barrow.

To be the rich daughter of a real Earl and Countess.

She was still smiling as she gently and unknowingly fell into a deep and contented sleep.