We had very little time. Early the next morning, I spoke to Miranda and Mrs. Banks and bought myself some time. I explained Ainsel’s magic trick to Sophie and asked her to arrange an opportunity to speak to Lady Lavinia. Sophie looked rather pale but agreed.
And so I found myself standing alongside Sophie in Lady Lavinia’s room.
She sat on the couch opposite me as I explained Ainsel’s deductions.
I couldn’t very well tell Mrs. Banks the truth, but I was equally sure we couldn’t allow her to believe Diana had gone and frighten the master’s family into spurning the marquess’s hospitality. This problem was far too great for a little servant girl, so I placed the final decision in Lady Lavinia’s hands, even if that required speaking above my station.
“Yes,” Lady Lavinia said with a pleasant smile once I was done. “Thank you. I’ll speak to my father. Have a telegram sent at once saying the whole thing with Mrs. Banks was a misunderstanding.”
“Will Mrs. Banks accept that without knowing the details?” Sophie asked, nervously.
Lady Lavinia shot her a look. “If you tell her I personally requested it, that will suffice.”
“Understood, Miss.”
Sophie left the room.
“Hopefully we’re in time,” Lady Lavinia said.
“Um, will you really tell him the truth?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yes. I rather thought it was about time I did anyway. As a member of the earl’s family, I have a duty to protect this mansion and our holdings.”
I remembered what Ainsel had said: Humans and faeries lived according to different rules and so could never be together. Perhaps this situation was similar. We servants were commoners, and a vast gulf divided us from the upper classes. We each had different rules to follow.
“Even so…” I began.
Even so…what? If only this were a romance novel. In fiction, it was always possible for love between folks from different backgrounds to bloom.
“I’ve lived here for nineteen years,” Lady Lavinia said, after a while. “I thought I’d live my whole life surrounded by this huge house and garden, but that was wrong. This house is my father’s, and in time will be my brother’s. I have to find a place of my own, under my own power. If I could find such a place with Gerald…”
“You can! I’m sure. I know you can!” I said, tears in my eyes, though I’d no evidence to back up my belief. “That’s what happens in all the stories! Love wins out! Differences in status or ways of life are obstacles to be overcome! True love doesn’t care about those things! You can conquer money, mansions, titles…”
Just ignore the rules.
How convincing could these words be, coming from a lower class girl who’d never known love?
But Lady Lavinia rose to her feet.
She took a few steps closer to me, removing her glove.
“Thank you. I’m sure you’re right.”
Her pale, thin, unblemished fingers brushed the tears from my cheeks.
I’d never had anyone from upstairs touch me like this. I blinked several times, and she nodded.
“But you’re amazing,” she said. “I thought my plan was foolproof, but you saw right through it. You’re very clever.”
“No, um…” Embarrassed, I told the truth. “My friend figured it out. My roommate, a parlor maid.”
“A parlor maid?” Lady Lavinia said, her eyes opening wide. “We have a parlor maid?”
“Huh?”
“And you’re a new hire, aren’t you? I could swear I overheard Mrs. Banks saying she was getting an unused room ready for the new girl, but you have a roommate?”
Feeling dazed, I blinked several times.
That’s when the truth dawned.
A faerie no one could remember…
“Um, sorry. Please excuse me, my lady.”
Shaking off the daze, I left the room. I broke into a run, almost tripping over the hem of my skirt as I raced downstairs. I ran through the underground, up the stairs in the servants’ quarters, headed for the room at the very back.
My room.
Our room.
Where my friend and I lived.
I opened the door, and there she was.
Morning light flooded through the windows while she read at her desk, just like always.
She was dressed as a parlor maid, in a lacy apron and cap.
“Welcome back, Cathy,” she said, closing her book and smiling at me.
Breathing heavily, I spoke to Ainsel.
“So you’re… You’re actually…”
Ainsel turned herself around in her chair to face me, a little smile playing at the edges of her lips. She nodded.
“That’s right. I’m Diana.”