Page 58 of A Mayfair Maid

Marilee laughed at the woman’s wry humor although she had thought she would never laugh again. She poured out her heart. “You are my friend too,” she told Peggy. “You have been my salvation in this horrible place.”

“And you mine,” Peggy agreed.

Marilee finished her tale with the reason for her secrets. She had an urgent need to protect the secrets to save the lady from a more horrible fate. She revealed that both were told that if the other tried to escape the other would be killed.

Peggy nodded her understanding.

She told her that the horse, Bella, belonged to the lady for whom she worked, Miss Caroline Graves, daughter to a baron. She told Peggy that she had begged her lady and her friend to escape upon the steed, but that it could not carry them both to safety, and so she had refused. She shared the threats of the brothel, the trauma of the duke’s murder, and every single fear that she had experienced since she had left Gravesend Manor. She told Peggy how she really felt about Nikolas, that she loved him. She spilled her fears and her feelings of hopelessness. She cried until there were no tears left to cry and Peggy cried along with her.

Marilee wanted to feel better with the catharsis of tears, and she did feel unburdened when it had all been said, but she also felt the blanket of fear and hopelessness descend upon her anew. She worried she had put Peggy in danger with the knowledge, but Peggy was made of stronger stuff.

“Don’t you worry about me,” she instructed and made the motion of a locking key across her lips. “Your secret is safe with me, and, furthermore, I am so glad that you have chosen to share it with me. I cannot tell you what that means, and I know that you worry it will come at great cost. But it won’t. We will save ourselves. You’ll see. We will save Nikolas and your lady. We will break free from this prison and, more than that, break the prison to nothing more than rubble. I believe it. I know you might doubt it in this moment, and so, I will believe it enough for the both of us. With one true friend, you can do anything,” Peggy declared.

Marilee hugged Peggy that much tighter. Peggy was right, she was struggling to see the light in this moment. And so she would allow Peggy to be her strength until she could find that strength within herself again.

* * *

Three days wentby during which Nikolas’ demise was celebrated. For each of those three days Marilee experienced a sort of elevated preference from the lady of the house as well as a lack of censure from the head housekeeper. The other servants had certainly noted the change, and whispers followed her wherever she had gone as if wondering if they too could achieve similar advantages, or perhaps they feared her as they feared the lady and the housekeeper.

On the fourth day, Marilee was called to Lady Lydia’s chamber fully expecting to be re-instated into pitiable Hetty’s position as had been promised. She had come to feel for the girl when it was clear Lady Lydia had no intention of giving her recommendation that the maid continue on in such an elevated position. Though she had given it her all, it was easy to see that Hetty had never been more than an assistant to a lady’s maid. Marilee could only hope that this did not mean that Hetty would be sent back to be put to the alternate duties of the Sparrow Club. Such a life would break the girl.

When she entered the room, she was surprised to see that Hetty was still present and had quite a smug expression of satisfaction upon her face.

“Is something the matter?” Marilee asked with hesitation as she stepped into the room to find Lady Lydia draped across her arm chair with all the confidence of a queen at her leisure.

“Only that you did not fulfill your end of the bargain,” Lady Lydia said with a frown. Marilee’s heart hammered in her chest. Had she been found out? Were they aware that she had switched the poison for the emetic? She would have to play off the ruse, she realized, else her punishment would be severe.

“I am afraid that I do not understand,” she murmured. “I doused him with the entire vial as instructed.”

“And yet somehow he still breathes,” Lady Lydia spat. “That is, his body has not been recovered though he has failed to be seen anywhere in London proper.” Marilee forced her features to reveal only confusion when what she really felt was relief at the confirmation that Nicholas was alive. He must be. She made some bumbling attempt at suggesting that perhaps he had gone off and died elsewhere and that was the reason why his body had not been seen. Lady Lydia had shaken her head with disgust. “I am afraid that that explanation will not do,” she explained. “If he was well and truly dead than he would no longer be able to hold claim to my debts as my solicitor. As it is, someone is still enforcing them and refusing to sign over the contract to Mr. Penteby. No, he is out there somewhere continuing his work by proxy. You were supposed to have handled this.”

“I thought that I had,” Marilee cried. “I did everything that you asked of me.” She decided to turn the tables. “You cannot blame me that the poison did not work! Where did you get it? The poison was obviously defective.” As much as Marilee hated to incriminate another, she did not want to be caught herself. How had she come to this? She wondered. Had she sunk so low?

“What I asked of you was to take care of this problem.” Lady Lydia stood with such force that she overturned the chair. “Do you know what this could mean if he is alive? All of my plans could be laid to waste in an instant if he collaborates with the magistrate. I will not tolerate your failure.” Lady Lydia smoothed back her hair and took a dramatic breath as if she were attempting to calm herself, but Marilee knew that what it really meant was that she was preparing to release her unbridled rage.

“Iamsorry,” Marilee began but was stopped short when Lady Lydia threw her hand between them in a gesture that demanded silence.

“I have no interest in hearing your excuses,” Lady Lydia snarled. “I only wished to ensure that you were made aware that inefficiencies would not be rewarded. Our deal is off and, until I have decided whether or not to grant you forgiveness, I do not wish to see you in my presence.” Marilee continued to stand in the center of the room in demure silence. This did not seem so bad; she had certainly seen Lady Lydia give worse punishments for less. To be sent back to work beside Peggy was no burden at although she certainly would not allow Lady Lydia to sense her relief. But the lady was not done. “Perhaps I shall send you away in Hetty’s stead,” Lady Lydia gave a malicious giggle. “That is what you deserve after all.”

“But it’s not my fault,” Marilee cried. She was really worried that Lady Lydia would hold to her threats. Now, there was no one to save her, and it was her own fault.

Marilee was sent below stairs to await the official declaration according to Lady Lydia. Whatever the lady decided, Marilee was destined to lose.

* * *

Marilee spentthe rest of the day in a sort of haze as she worried about the discovery of Nikolas’s condition one way or the other.

When Mrs. Cavendish woke her in the early hours of morning from her fitful rest by pulling Marilee bodily from the bed, she was certain that the head housekeeper’s roughness meant that they had found Nikolas alive. She felt an instant surge of relief and gratitude that he had not met his end at her hand. She found that she was not even worried for herself for whatever might come next was beyond her control, at least if they were both alive.

“What is the matter?” Peggy had leapt from her bed at the sound of the scuffle, always on the alert as she was.

“Back to bed,” Mrs. Cavendish had snarled, and when Peggy had seemed prepared to put up a fight, the housekeeper gestured to the doorway where an enormous man wearing a dark hood stood in the hall prepared to put a stop to any resistance. Peggy glared daggers at the pair then sat down and held her tongue. If any of the other girls had happened to wake and witness the scene, they made no move to draw attention to themselves.

Marilee was thankful that Peggy had recognized that any attempt to aid her would be futile, even reckless. It would only have ended in both of their suffering.

She swallowed deeply and straightened her nightgown before stepping out into the faint light of the hall. The masked man grabbed her by the upper arm and tugged her along beside him without a word. She knew there was no escape, and perhaps in some way she deserved this end.

“Unhand me,” Marilee said regally. “You need not drag me. I can walk.”

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