you are underestimating the extent of your deception, Miss Sedgwick.” Mrs. Ollerton’s voice was quiet and somewhat nervous. “You have led me, as well as all of my guests, to believe that your maid was eligible to marry Mr. Hill, and that she bore your name and station.”
“Did you all really believe it? Oh, my. She must have behaved better than I expected.” She giggled again.
I leaned closer to the door, emotion gripping my throat.
A voice from behind me made me jump. “Oh, there you are Sherbrooke.”
I turned to see Miss Coppins, a smug smile on her lips. My mind raced, and it took a long moment to recognize the name she had just called me.
Sherbrooke.
She drifted past me, placing one hand on the door. “It seems you have now been made aware of our new guest.”
My brow furrowed, pain stabbing at my chest.
“I heard you speaking to that maid with the injured leg in the gardens about your little ruse.” Miss Coppins grinned, as if she were proud of her discovery. “I thought it prudent to write to your mistress to inform her of your deception. I was quite surprised to learn she was already aware of it. After receiving my letter, she simply had to come take her chance on him herself. I would have told Mrs. Ollerton directly, but the anxiety such a betrayal to you, a dear friend, would cause would be a great strain on my health.” She drew a deep breath. “I did try to have you removed from the house before your secret could be revealed, but that effort did not succeed.”
My heart pounded. “What effort?”
“As soon as I discovered your secret, I took the pendant from the drawing room.” A slow smile spread on her lips. “It would have been for your own good, you know, if it had been found in your room. You might have gone home before the entire household learned that you are a lady’s maid.” She glanced upward with a sigh before pushing lightly on the drawing room door. “It seems we are now too late for that.”
I didn’t have time to recover from the shock of what she had just revealed to me, nor the time to process the strange logic behind it all. How could she have possibly thought she was being helpful? Sophia arriving here was infinitely worse than my secret being revealed in some other way, and having me sent home for thievery would have been even worse.
Beyond the open doorway, Sophia sat beside Mrs. Ollerton on the sofa, appearing graceful and comfortable enough to have been a guest here for weeks. Her golden curls were piled atop her head, blue eyes rounding with surprise when she saw me. “Oh, Sherbrooke, you must be quite surprised to see me here.”
Surprise did not begin to explain all the things I felt. My head spun, my breathing shallow.
“Come, come.” She waved her hand for me to enter the room, a pleasant smile on her face. Miss Downsfield, Miss Benham, and Miss Taplow were all seated on the other sofa, watching me with a mixture of victory and shock.
In an instant, I was no longer a lady. I was no longer their equal. I was now a maid who was expected to obey a demand from her mistress.
I walked into the room, stopping by Sophia’s side. She looked up at me with a doting smile, reminding me of how Mrs. Ollerton looked at her dog. I knew Sophia was not nearly as caring as she pretended to be for her spectators. “I have missed your attention to detail these weeks, Sherbrooke. The maid Anne let me use at Hampden park did not have your talent.”
Sophia turned her attention to the other guests. “I truly have the most talented maid. It will be quite advantageous for me to have her here to help me look presentable during this final week. You all have had weeks to make an impression on Mr. Hill, and I have only one week to do that.” She laughed.
The awkwardness in the room was nearly too much to bear. Mrs. Ollerton looked vastly uncomfortable, shifting in her chair and touching her curls repeatedly. “It may be unwise for Miss—er—your maid to remain here at Winslow House.”
“Why should it be unwise?” Sophia glanced at me, then at Mrs. Ollerton, her blue eyes wide with curiosity.
For the first time in my life, I felt keen to faint. I touched my fingertips to my temples, drawing