Free Hope's Betrayal by Grace Elliot Page B

I'd be much obliged if
she'd call at the earliest opportunity, to measure Miss Tyler."
    "Yes,
Ma'am."
    Once Mrs Brown
had waddled away, Huntley slapped his forehead and sagged against the wall.
"You can't get your modiste to dress her!"
    "Why ever
not, dear? Be reasonable. My secretary can't go around looking like a sack of
potatoes, can she?"
    "Reasonable?
You talk about reasonable—you left reasonable way behind. And yes, as it
happens, I'd rather she was plainly dressed."
    Hope
interrupted. "A maid's livery is fine."
    "Now look,
George, you are such a bully sometimes. You've intimidated the poor girl."
    "Intimidated!
Mother you have no idea."
     
    *****
     
    Lady Ryevale
rang for the maid to show Hope to her chamber. A girl appeared: thickset with a
heavy jaw and rebellious wiry hair which refused to sit neatly beneath her cap.
Hope recognised her as the maid who had tended her in the garret.
    "Ruby."
She grinned, pleased to see a familiar face.
    The maid looked
confused. "Miss…?"
    "You
remember me, don’t you? Hope."
    Lady Ryevale
cleared her throat. "Ruby is correct. She must call you Miss Tyler from
now on."
    The idea sat
oddly on Hope's shoulders, but she nodded.
    "This way,
Miss Tyler."
    Ruby lead on up
the sweep of the marble staircase. The steps felt cool through Hope's thin
slippers, giving a cold welcome. In a borrowed dress several sizes too big, the
hem heavy with seawater, Hope felt small and out of place.
    "This way,
Miss."
    On the second
landing Ruby peeled off to the left along a corridor lined with marble busts
and costly bronzes. Hope noticed the Chinese carpet and tried to walk to one
side, lest her feet dirty it. The maid stopped outside a set of double doors.
    "This is
you then, Miss."
    Opening the
doors, Ruby stepped back. Bewildered, Hope stared at her.
    "This is
your room, Miss Tyler." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Tis politeness that
you go in first."
    "Oh, thank
you."
    Hope peered
inside. Dazzled by the crystal chandelier and rich furnishings, she recoiled.
    "It's too
grand. The attic room will do just fine." 
    Ruby's mouth
twitched. "This is where her ladyship told me to bring yer, Miss
Tyler."
    "Oh, please
call me Hope."
    Ruby grinned but
shook her head. "Oh no, Miss. You’re a cut above me now, although I'm
right glad at your good luck. Go in."
    Hesitant, as if
stepping into the lion's den, Hope crossed the threshold. She found herself in
a large, airy room the luxury and opulence of which she had never seen before.
    Heavy drapes in
cream brocade, swaged a tall window, the fabric matched the bedhangings and
wallpaper.  Against one wall stood a huge bed which could have slept a whole
family and still had space, with a veritable drift of pillows, downy-soft and pristine
in white, linen pillowslips. There was a lady's desk and a dressing table. Hope
stared at the chandelier and nearly fell over— such things were for ballrooms,
never in her wildest dreams had she imagined one in a room for sleeping!
    She turned to Ruby
for reassurance, and found her grinning like an idiot.
    "So you
like it then, Miss?"
    "It's,
it's…wonderful. But there must be some mistake? This can’t be for me?"
    "Aye but it
is. Lady Ryevale was most explicit in her instructions—the small chamber just aside
hers."
    "This is a
small chamber?" Hope's hand flew to her mouth. "Heaven preserve
us."
    Ruby chuckled.
"Come now, Miss, best make the most of it."
    The enormity of
her ladyship's largesse struck home. All this given on a whim and, as suddenly,
could be taken away. With a new sense of wonder, Hope remembered her own mother
was high-born and used to such luxuries. How much harder then, after sleeping
in linen sheets, to live the life of a fisherman's wife?
    "You
alright, Miss Tyler?"
    "Quite.
Thank you, Ruby. I've taken up enough of your time, do return to your
duties."
    "Well, if
you’re sure, Miss."
    "I am. And
Ruby, I'd like to call you my friend."
    Ruby blushed and
backed out of the room.
    Alone at last,
Hope placed