The Magnificent Masquerade (17 page)

"Miss Jessup, no!" Emily cried, her
eyes widening in horror. "I can't be!" And, throwing herself across
the bed, Emily burst into sobs again.

Kitty, alarmed and contrite, sat down and
leaned over her prostrate friend. "Don't take on so, Emily, please
don't," she begged, patting the other girl's shoulder. "I wasn't
really serious. You know how I make jokes about everything. Please don't
cry."

Emily took a few deep breaths, brought her
sobbing under control, and rolled over. "I'm a g-goose," she said,
wiping her eyes again, "but it doesn't m-matter any more, in any case,
because we'll be leaving now."

Kitty blinked. "Leaving?" sat up.
"Yes, of course. Since I've refused him, "No, I suppose not,"
Kitty muttered, feeling suddenly de

Emily sat up, her spirits buoyed by the
prospect of the end of the pretense that she'd been living for the past few
days. "It will really be a most satisfactory finish to this
adventure," she pointed out. "You'll have accomplished your aims
without ever having been unmasked."

But as Emily's mood rose, Kitty found hers
plummeting. She'd been immensely enjoying her stay here at Edgerton and was
looking forward to the remaining days of her adventurous fortnight. She didn't
want the adventure to end so soon. "Don't you think we should remain until
my mother and father come to take us back?" she asked feebly.

"No, I don't think so at all. Why should
we?" "Well, we have no carriage, for one thing ..."

"I'm certain that Lord Edgerton would
provide one if I asked him. I can go to him and say that since we've discovered
that. Toby and I don't suit, there seems no purpose in our remaining together
for the full fortnight. I can suggest that he provide us with a carriage at his
earliest convenience."

"Yes," Kitty agreed reluctantly,
"I suppose ..." It was now Emily's turn to stare at Kitty. "Good
heavens, Miss Jessup, you sound as if you don't wish to leave. Don't tell me
that you want to remain here until we're discovered! Can you really wish to
endure the torture of being unmasked, of facing the accusations, the anger, the
recriminations, the scolds, the punishments, the shame-!"

"Enough!" Kitty held up her hands in
self-protection. "You've said enough to score your point. But we can't be
hasty. First I must be certain that the Wisharts consider your refusal of
Toby's offer to be final. Then I must decide where I'm to go from here. You can
go back to school, but I can't, since Papa has withdrawn me. And I don't know
what the effect will be on him if I appear unexpectedly on the Birkinshaw
doorstep. Give me a day or so to think the matter through."

Kitty left Emily's room so distracted that she
forgot to mention the success of the prettification of Miss Alicia. This latest
turn of events had taken complete hold of her mind. It had all happened too
abruptly for her to ascertain her best course of action. She needed to think,
and the best place for that, in the circumstances, was her little room in the
servants' quarters. There was barely an hour before she had to help Emily dress
for tea, but she might get a little time to herself if she could make her way
to her room before anyone discovered her. She had not been an abigail for long,
but the few days had been long enough for her to learn that a servant was not
given much time to herself. She knew that if Mrs. Prowne discovered her, she
might very likely set her to polishing brass; if Mr. Naismith came upon her,
he'd surely order her to set the tea table; or if Miss Leacock found her
idling, she might very well suggest that "idle hands make bare feet,"
and that she'd make better use of her time pressing out Miss Jessup's morning
robe. Only with a great deal of luck would she manage to elude them all.

She hurried down the hall toward the back
stairs, hoping desperately that no one would discover her, but a footstep
behind her caused her to peep over her shoulder uneasily. Fortunately, it was
only Jemmy, the footman. She acknowledged his presence with a quick nod and
hurried on her way. But Jemmy would not be dismissed so easily. The new abigail
had attracted his attention from the first, and this was the first time he'd
encountered her alone. "Wait, little Em'ly." he said, running to
catch up with her.

"I'm in a hurry," she said, not
pausing.

"Whatever it is kin wait fer a bit,"
he said, grasping her arm. "I want't' talk to ye."

"Let go of me, Jemmy," she ordered
curtly, "or you'll find yourself in trouble."

"Ye're worth a bit o' trouble," he
grinned, pulling her close to him. And before she could utter a word, she felt
a sharp nip on her posterior. She froze for a moment in astonishment. Why, the
looby had pinched her! She'd felt it right through her bombazine, two stiff
petticoats, and a thick pair of underdrawers!

She gasped. "Why, you ... you blasted
bobbing-block' Who gave you leave to take such liberties?"

The footman leered. "It's a rare pleasin'
backside ye 'ave, see," he explained, quite unabashed.

"Oh, is it indeed?" Kitty demanded
furiously. "Well, then, let's see how pleasing you find this!" And
despite the pain that still throbbed in the palm of her hand, she let him have
a sharp crack across the cheek.

"Ow! Ye damned she-cat!" he bawled,
stung. Mr. Naismith, emerging at that moment from her ladyship's room where
he'd been receiving her instructions for the serving of a rather special tea
this afternoon, could barely believe his eyes at the sight in the corridor.
That two members of his staff could hold an altercation in this part of the
house was unheard of! "What sort of goings-on are these?" he demanded
in an irate whisper. "This would be bad enough belowstairs, but this, I
remind you, is the front corridor! His lordship's own bedroom ain't a step
away, and the main stairway's just ten yards behind. What do you think you're
doing here?"

Jemmy rubbed a hand over his reddened cheek.
"That little cat landed me a facer," he said sullenly.

"I might've known," the butler
sighed, turning his eyes upward. "Trouble goes along with her like it was
her perfume."

"Is that what you've got to say?"
Kitty demanded, too enraged to lower her voice. "Aren't you going to ask that
jackanapes why I landed him a facer?"

"Hush, girl!" Naismith ordered in an
undervoice. "Do you want the whole family to hear? I ought to drag you
downstairs to face his lordship. P'rhaps he'd know how to scare the devil out
of you!"

"Perhaps he would," a voice remarked
from behind them. The three turned around to find Lord Edgerton regarding them
curiously. "What's the to-do here, Naismith? Is there-Ah! Good afternoon,
girl. Emily, isn't it? Don't tell me you've seen another rat."

"You might say so, my lord," Kitty
responded promptly, glaring at Jemmy pointedly.

"Do you know this girl, my lord?"
Naismith inquired. "If so, it won't surprise you to learn that she causes
a to-do wherever she goes."

His lordship tried not to smile. "No, it
doesn't surprise me. Did she discover another rat?"

"I don't know anything about rats, my
lord. She evidently was molesting the footman here-"

Kitty exploded. "l? Molesting him? Of all
the-!" "Be still, girl!" Naismith hissed through clenched teeth.

"Wait 'til you're spoken to!"

Kitty forced herself into submission. Furious
as she was, it wouldn't do, she warned herself, to forget that she was playing
the role of a humble household employee. She bit her tongue and lowered her
eyes, but not before she noticed that

Lord Edgerton was watching her with amused
interest. Lord Edgerton turned to the footman. "How, may I ask, Gerald,
did this little slip of a girl molest you?"

"She slapped my face, m'lord. "Ere,
ye can see the mark of 'er hand, I wager." And he removed his own hand to
reveal a large, red welt on his cheek.

His lordship's brow rose. "The girl must
be a great deal stronger than she looks," he murmured. "Well, Emily,
what have you to say for yourself ?"

"He deserved it," she responded with
alacrity. "I slapped him after he molested me."

Naismith snorted. "Gerald had been in our
employ for seven years, my lord, and in all that time I've never known him to
molest anyone."

His lordship studied each face in turn.
"Tell me, Emily, just how did he molest you? Can you show us a red mark
comparable to his?"

"No, I can't. I have one, I'll be bound,
but in a place that's too private to reveal."

Edgerton almost laughed aloud. "Are you
saying, you minx, that the idiot pinched your bottom?"

"I would not wish to express myself quite
so vulgarly, my lord, but that is the gist of my accusation. And I don't find
it nearly so amusing as you do."

Naismith turned quite red. "Watch your
tongue, you disrespectful jade!" he hissed with apoplectic wrath. "I
won't have you speaking to his lordship in that saucy way!"

"That's all right, Naismith," Lord
Edgerton said, trying to be conciliatory. He was finding a good deal of
enjoyment in this contretemps himself, and he didn't wish his butler to take
the matter so seriously. "I've been the victim of Emily's disrespectful
tongue before. She assures me that such sauciness, though not appropriate for
an abigail, is very useful for a teacher, which she hopes one day to become. So
perhaps we can excuse her."

"Excusing her is your privilege, my
lord," Naismith said with icy disapproval, "but I would not advise
it."

"No? What would you advise, then?"

"That you send 'er packing, my lord. Back
to the Birkinshaws. Let them deal with her as they see fit. We can easily
provide Miss Jessup with another abigail while she is here."

"But I don't see how we can do so before
we've gotten to the bottom of this matter. We haven't even asked Gerald if he
pinched the girl." His lordship turned to the frozen-faced footman.
"Well, Gerald, are you guilty of this heinous crime?"

"No, m'lord," Jemmy answered, his
expression turning innocent as a babe's. "I never touched 'er."

"Why, you lying dastard," Kitty
cried, running at him with fists clenched, "I'll-!"

"Calmly, calmly, little firebrand,"
his lordship said, catching her up in his arms. "We can't let this matter
degenerate into fisticuffs."

Kitty, squirming and wriggling in his hold,
tried to kick herself free. "Just let me at him! Put me down, dash it all!
The deuced liar... . I'd like to scratch his eyes out!"

"I won't put you down until you control
your temper, my girl. And if you don't do so by the time I count to ten, I
shall drop you down the chute into the coal hole, where I have no doubt you'll
find rats aplenty! There, that's better. Now, do I have your word that you'll
indulge in no more outbursts?" She only half believed that he would carry
out his threat, but even half a conviction was enough to cool her ire. She
nodded meekly. "Yes, my lord."

He set her on her feet and waited while she
straightened her apron and adjusted her cap. Then he cleared his throat.
"With two completely contradictory stories, we seem to be at an impasse
here. But I must agree with Naismith that the word of a fellow who's given
seven years of exemplary service must be credited above that of a newly arrived
wet goose with a saucy tongue."

"Well, of all the unfair-!" she
blurted out, stung. "Silence!" he ordered. "You gave your word
there would be no more outbursts."

She opened her mouth to remonstrate, but one
look from his no-longer-amused eyes stilled her tongue.

"Thank you for your support, my
lord," Naismith said. Then he gave the footman a surreptitious poke in the
ribs.

When there was no response, he added with a
touch of annoyance, "And Gerald thanks you, too, I'm sure."

"Oh, yes, m' lord," Jemmy said
hurriedly. "Thank ye, m' lord."

Naismith now fixed his reproachful eyes on
Kitty. "Shall I send this baggage back to the Birkinshaws, my lord?"
he asked.

"No, I think not. If you have no
objection, Naismith, I'd like to give her another chance."

Naismith had no choice but to bow his
acquiescence. "As you wish, my lord." He snapped his fingers at his
underlings, signaling them that the interview was over and that they were to go
about their business. Jemmy, after throwing a barely perceptible look of
triumph at Kitty, quickly melted away down the hall.

But Edgerton had caught the look. "I would
like Emily to remain here for a moment," he told the butler. "You may
go, Naismith."

The butler bowed and soon disappeared down the
stairs. Kitty, furious that his lordship had not supported her, put up her chin
and eyed the master of the house with unflinching disdain. "I don't see
that there's anything more to be said, my lord," she declared icily.

The look of amusement returned to his eyes. "I
take it that in your opinion I did not show the wisdom of Solomon in my
judgment," he remarked.

"Far from it," she retorted.

"Not so far from it, if you consider all
sides. I knew perfectly well that you'd been pinched. But I could not under
mine my butler's authority in front of his staff, could I?"

"Why not, if he's in the wrong?"

"He did not believe he was, and since the
point couldn't be proved, it seemed best not to humiliate him."

Kitty pouted. "It was easier to humiliate
me, is that what I'm to conclude?"

"You, my girl, are as utterly beyond
humiliation as a duchess. I have never in my life come across a servant with so
little humility. That's why I asked you to remain behind. I want to warn-"

"You asked me to remain so that you could
scold me?" she interrupted in chagrin. "I thought it was to
apologize!" Edgerton's eyebrows rose. "Good God, girl, what a tongue
you have! You should have been a duchess. Why on earth should I apologize? I
didn't pinch you."

"That's true, you didn't. Well, then, my
lord, say what you have to say."