Part 15 Balloon (really? No suggestions on the title?) NaNoWriMo work in progress- unedited

15

Once there Mary absent mindedly picked up a book and sat in a large chair and began reading. Liza fussed over her work table, placing objects in a pile and then taking some out. She was at this for about five minutes before Mary let out a deep sigh. Liza’s head turned to face Mary.

“What is it? Oh… are you… upset Mary?” Liza said, putting a small compass down carefully on the table.

Mary tilted her head and closed the book with a loud snap!

“You seem quite cross Mary.”

“And why should I not be? I must ask you Liza, am I truly going to be a part of this trip?”

“Yes, of course, why-“

“Then why do I only find out information in drips and dribbles, as if I were a child who needed shielding from unpleasant things. Is that how you see me?””

Liza laughed but then caught herself. “Oh Mary, Mary dearest, no. That is not how I see you at all, heaven’s no. It has been difficult for you, I know, but I for one forget sometimes that you do not know everything.”

“Everything like what? Is there more?”

Liza sat down across from Mary’s chair and looked at her hard for a moment.

“No… I mean, I don’t think so. Probably Mary, I shall probably tell you things here and there and you will realize I have not told you them before. But I can assure you it is not that I or even the General are keeping things from you.”

Mary sighed and put the book down on the side table. “Oh Liza, I know. I know. It is just.. it is just that I do wish so very badly to go on this adventure. You have no idea how boring life can be…”

“I have some idea.”

“Yes, but really- Mother keeps me waist deep in lace making and party planning. If before I met you was dreadfully boring.” Mary grabbed Liza’s hands and held them. “I want to have this adventure, but also be of a help. So please do not hold back from me.”

“Very well. I promise to help you, and myself, have a grand adventure. Now, since we are packing for an adventure we must address your clothes.”

Mary laughed. “Oh yes please! I am dying to be rid of these hideous dresses Mother makes me wear!”

 

 

The next morning Mary sent a carefully worded note to the Iggelsdin’s house with her Uncle’s first floor maid. Pruella, as she was known in the household, was to find the Iggelsdin’s maid, Ethel, and give her the note.

 

Mary was practically a nervous wreck when, about an hour later, her maid Pruella came back. Mary was waiting for her in the downstairs kitchen, much to the cook’s consternation.

“Well? What happened?” Mary said, startling the maid.

“Well Ma’am, I found the maid Ethel for you and delivered her your note.”

“And, well do you have an answer?”

“Yes Ma’am. She said to me, she said “See how the weather turns.”

Mary looked puzzled. “And that was it, nothing else? Did she write anything in return?”

“No Ma’am, that was it, not even a good bye, she just left me standing by the back door.”

 

“Hmmm, that maid, Ethel? She seemed like an odd one” Liza said not a half an hour later. Mary had hurried over the General’s house to tell Liza what Ethel had said to her maid.

“What on earth could it mean, “the weather?” You don’t suppose there is someone there named weather do you?”

“Doubtful, not exactly a common name. But that does remind me, even if Ethel had given us a name, how would we know who it was or if they worked there?”

“Indeed, we must figure out a way to get a list of names of who works there…”

“Well” Mary said “I think I need to make a trip to the country…”

“What?” Liza said.

“Well, as I see it I may be able to use some of my country connections to suss out who is working at their house. Now, they are nowhere near our house, but I suppose I could see who is near their house I might know. Sort of work their help…”

“Yes, let’s ask the General… no, wait, let’s ask Ingrid, my lady’s maid. She’ll know, she knows a whole network of help.”

 

Within the hour they had, with the help of Igrid, found a friend of Mary’s Mother, a Mrs. Deering, who lived in a small house in the same county as the Iggelsdin’s house. Liza went back to Mary’s house to help her pack

“Now don’t get too excited” Mary said as she carefully placed clothes into a case while her maid gathered up jewelry. “Pruella and I may not be able to find out much.”

“Ma’am” Pruella said “If you don’t mind me sayin’, I know the lady’s maid of Mrs. Deering and she will know someone. She told me things about every Lady, Lady’s maid and scullery maid in the north of England last time we were there.”

“Excellent! See Mary, you’ll be fine.”

“Well, I hope. I suspect the most difficult part will be putting up with Mrs. Deering for the night. Oh I hope she does not talk to Mother anytime soon.”

“Why? What are you telling her is the reason for your visit?”

“That I am joining you and the General for a shooting party further up north.”

“Well, that sounds reasonable, and Grandfather and I can vouch for you!”

“That’s not the problem, mother will be livid I skipped out on some of the season’s parties.”

Liza looked at Mary strangely. “Good lord Mary, Other than that dreadful fête at the Oggelsdins’, how many parties have you attended since we met?”

Mary looked up, a shocked look on her face. “None!” and the two began to laugh, very loudly.

Balloon Chapter 14 (NaNoWriMo work in progress, spot the error(S)!

“Come again Liza?” Mary said.

“The Iggelsdins have a country house, I know they must, I saw it in the back ground of a painting. Am I am right about the house Grandfather?”

“Yes, yes, of course they do, someplace up in Scotland if I recall correctly. But what on earth are you proposing?”

“That we go up and retrieve Mr. Cogsowrth!”

“Don’t be silly girl.” The Colonel said. Liza glared at him.

“I am only saying that such a thing would be the height of foolishness.” The Colonel sputtered. “I suppose we’ll just march up to their house and ask to remove the young man?”

“Well, no, of course not. We’ll go to the police and they will go with us.” Liza said, as if it were the clearest thing in the universe.

“On what evidence?” Mary said quietly. “Liza, if we go to the police and tell them we think that the Iggelsdins are holding a man against his will without a shred of evidence we’ll be laughed out of the county.”

“Not to mention I would wager the local police are in Iggelsdins pocket, or at the very least someone would warn him we were coming, plenty of time to spirit Cosgworth away.” The General added. Liza’s face was red with frustration.

“Very well! We’ll just give up then? Let Mr. Cogsworth rot in some damp Scottish cell?”

“No Liza, but we must approach this rationally” Mary said, keeping her voice level. “I suppose it is reasonable that Cogsworth is up in this country house. But how we go about this requires some planning I think. Do we know anything about the house?”

“Not very much, I could ask around I suppose’ The General said.

“Ok, but carefully. We need to figure out how to get in to the house and look about. I don’t suppose there is a party coming up?” Liza rolled her eyes but said nothing.

Mary went on, “seriously, how do we get in there. If it is like the houses I have been to in the country, or for that matter my own house, the grounds around it will be quiet open. I doubt we shall be able to just sneak up unannounced. “

“Unless we go when it is dark!” The  Colonel said.

“Uncle, have you ever been to a house in the country, even one of modest means, that does not have a bevvy of dogs. A stranger approaching in the dark would be exposed before they got within a hundred yards of the place.”

Mary sat for a moment thinking. “We need a way to get into the house without being seen and of course without being caught. How can we get in?”

“A disguise perhaps?” The Colonel suggested.

“I don’t think so” The general said.

“Then how?” Mary said.

Liza stood up with a gleam in her eye. “Of course! Why not do the simple thing? What if we take the sedan?”

“What?!” The General exclaimed.

“Think of it Grandfather. The balloon is silent and we can land without being heard. If we go at night it would be perfect.”

“Assuming we don’t crash!” The colonel uttered.

“Moto can do it, I Know. We can land on the roof and be in and out before anyone even knows we’re there!”

“Liza,” Mary said “how on earth will we search a great house quick and quietly enough to find Cogsworth?”

“We’ll have to split up I suppose, or perhaps… perhaps we could try and bribe one of the servants?”

“Both sounds positively foolish” The Colonel chortled, Liza shot him a look. “No, I am serious young lady. We cannot simply wander about a huge house in the dark and not expect to wake someone up.”

“What about finding some maid Uncle…”

“And how would we do that? Ask around? We ask the wrong persona and they tell Iggelsdins, we’re dead meat I tell you!”

“The Colonel does have a point Liza” The general said. “It is simply not possible.”

“I Know a maid” Mary said quietly. Liza stood up quickly.

“That’s right! Only… she’s not at that house… although I suppose she could travel with them there… did you get what position she had Mary?”

“No, I thought you might have? No? Well, at any rate it doesn’t matter. If the family is here and she is too, then she won’t know what is going on at the house.”

“Wait a minute!” The General said, taking his pip out of his mouth. “What did you just say?”

“That the maid wouldn’t know-?”

“No, no, about the family. That is right, isn’t it. The family is here, at least for the moment. That means that back at the house in the country there will be a small staff at best.”

“That’s right” Liza said, her face brightening again. “If we could possibly case the house we could see which rooms light up-“

“No, no, we could not get that close.” Mary said “But I understand your point General sir. A small staff, less people to worry about waking up. If we can get even one person to talk chances are they would know what is going on…”

“We need to talk to Ethel as soon as possible, before Iggelsdin or even the whole family goes out there…”

“I could go call on her, on some pretense…”

“Good heavens no!” The Colonel said. “Well, really, why would a lady such as yourself call on a house maid. Send over Pruella. She’s our first floor maid.” The Colonel said to Liza and the General. “Give her a note and tell her to give it to Ethel and wait for a response.”

“All well and good Colonel” Liza said “But what on earth would we say? We cannot just ask for the name of an informer, what if the note is intercepted?”

The four of them fell silent.

“Yes!” said Mary, startling the General. “We’ll send over a coded note. We can ask if there is any good help at the country house we might hire away. Then, if it is intercepted it might be embarrassing that we are trying to steal one of their servants, but it would not alarm them concerning Mr. Cogsworth.”

“Brilliant Mary. But we must be quick, right Grandfather?”

“Yes Liza dear. I suggest we send the maid over first thing in the morning and meanwhile prepare the sedan. I think it would be wise to be ready to head straight for the Caribbean once we have Mr. Cogsworth, and get a head start on Iggelsdin.”

“The Caribbean?” Mary ask and the General went slightly red.

“Yes, yes. We do know that much, just not exactly where…”

Mary did not answer, but seemed a bit nonplussed.

“Shall we go upstairs and pack for the trip Mary?” Liza said, a bit too cheerfully, but Mary agreed and they made their way up to Liza’s bedroom.

Balloon Part 13 (brief snippet as I get back into the swing of things)

13

 

Liza sat in the small closet for a moment while the maid went off to finder dress. She was perplexed as to how she was ever going to find Cogsworth if even the help would not talk.

There was a small knock not he’d or and Ethel opened the door and shoved in the dress.

“Here you are ma’am. Put it back on and go find your friend. Perhaps you should call it a night before you get into real trouble? But in the future, look around more, not everyone enjoys the city you know.”

“Wait, what?” but Ethel was gone, leaving Liza alone in the cramped china closet.

 

A few moments later she emerged, dressed again and made her way upstairs. The party was, if anything, louder and brighter than before. It took her several minutes to find Mary, whose expression upon seeing Liza said much more than her words. 

 

Several minutes later they were bundling into a waiting handsome cab to go back to Liza’s Grandfather’s house. As they made their way back Liza regaled Mary with the tale of her narrow escape. Mary was in turn horrified and then angry with Liza for taking such risks.

 

When they got home it was still early and both the General and the Colonel were still playing cards.

“Well, how did it go?” The General asked, and, again, Liza told her tale. After she was done the General sat quietly for a moment. “So… we are still in the dark about Cogsworth.”

“Yes, I Am sorry Grandfather, but maybe if I had more time to look around…”

“Well, I ‘d say it was good that maid stopped you from opening some door that held a nasty surprise” The colonel said.

“Yes, well, I suppose so” Liza replied. “She was helpful. Wait! When she handed me my dress she mentioned something.”

“What?” The general asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Something about how not everyone likes the city…”

“What does that mean?” Mary asked.

“Well, I for one am not a big fan of it!” The colonel said theatrically. “Dirty filthy filled with people, give me the countryside anytime…”

“That’s it!” Liza said, jumping up.” Of course, I saw it in the painting!”

“Saw what?”

“The Iggelsdin’s country house of course. I know where they have Cogsworth and it isn’t in the city, it’s in the country!”

Part 12 Balloons (really need a better title) NaNoWriMo work in progress novel, raw and unedited and full of stupid errors.

Liza watched Mary close the door. She then proceeded up the flight of stairs to the second floor. As on the first, she opened a narrow door out into the end of a long hallway. No one was around, but the sound of the people downstairs echoed up a stairway down the hall. Carefully Liza walked down the hallway, passed several closed doors. She was not sure, exactly, what she was looking for. At first she imagined opening up the many doors until she found a room with Mr. Cogsworth sitting tied to a chair. That, was, of course, crazy… but as she thought about it she realized that it was as good a plan as any.

Liza went back to the first door she had passed on coming into the hallway. Maybe she should begin by checking the rooms now? She held her breath as she lightly knocked on the door. She was not, frankly, sure what she would do if someone answered or saw her. Maybe she could convince someone she was looking for the powder room, but she doubted it.

When there was no answer Liza slow and as quietly as she could turned the knob. She doubted anyone downstairs would hear her over the noise of the party. In fact she imagined she could have yelled and no one would hear, but still, she did not want to alert anyone unnecessarily to her presence.

The door swung open silently and she found herself looking at a small but tastefully decorated bedroom. The air was still, and slightly musty. The decorations seemed somewhat plain, still very nice by almost anyone’s standards, but compared to what she had seen in the rest of the house they were somewhat mean.

The room was also quite empty. It seemed like the room, being at the end of the hall, was more likely a backup guest room, for times when the house might be truly full of guests staying over.

Liza carefully closed the door and made her way down to the next door, this time on the other side of the hallway, the side facing the street.

Again she knocked, and when there was no answer she stepped inside. This time the room seemed less musty and cleaner. The decorations also were more up-to-date and fancier by far.

She was about to turn around and leave when she heard a noise, someone, or some people, were coming up the stairs. She quickly stepped inside the room and closed the door as quietly as she could. Footsteps and giggling echoed in the hallway. A man’s deep voice was talking quickly and animatedly while a woman’s high laughter rang out. Liza though to press down on the door’s lock, a second later the handle of the door jiggled.

“Bother!” said the man’s voice. “The man’s gone and locked this one too. Perhaps we could see what is free upstairs…?”

“Betsy!” and more giggles.

“Yes! Betsy, sure, come on!”

Liza let out breath and rolled her eyes at the same time as she heard the couple walk away. She wondered for a moment which room she was in. Why didn’t they go across the hall? Well, either way she was glad. She waited until she could no longer hear the couple and then unlocked the door, opened it and carefully looked out into the hallway.

 

She came back into eh hallway and went down past the landing to the other end of the hallway and to another close door. She was about to try the handle again, but as she thought about it more she realized that it was very unlikely that she would find Mr. Cogsworth here in the house. She realized she was wasting precious time.

 

Maybe if she could find the study of Mr. Iggelsdin she might find paperwork. She stopped to admire a large portrait of an elegant woman. The woman’s face was thin and arch, but her eyes seemed to hold a deep cold in them. A peel of laughter arose from downstairs and Liza was brought out of her reverie.

Where would the study be, she wondered. In many houses she had been in the study was often on the first floor, but she had not noticed such a room on the way in. Of course it might have been behind closed doors. But, she wondered, maybe in a house this large, with rooms devoted to entertaining on the first floor, the study might be on an upper floor. She glanced again at the painting, noting that in the background, behind the rather severe looking woman, was a country house. She wondered if-

“Can I help you?” Came a voice, a woman sounding as if she was trying to sound polite but at the same time dripping with the expectation that she would have to remonstrate the person she was speaking to.

Liza turned around and found herself face to face with a tall tight faced woman who was bedecked in the largest, most elaborate dressed Lizard seen that night. The woman also wore a tall white powered wig that seems to have various fruit in it. The dress was beyond puffy and had royal purple and gold cloth running in stripes up and down the poofed out skirt. To Eliza’s mind the woman looked nothing short of ridiculous, but the woman’s sour and hateful expression quickly killed any intention to laugh.

Liza’s mind raced, not sure what to say. She needed a moment to think…suddenly it clicked, the portrait! It was her!

“M-Mrs. Iggelsdin? Pamelia Iggelsdin?”

The woman drew herself up and almost sneered. “Yes, I am Mrs. Iggelsdin And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?” She asked in a way that easily conveyed the exact opposite of any sort of pleasure Liza could imagine.

“I, uh, I am Liza Littlefield Ma’am. I uh-“

“Yes, well Ms. Littlefield, what can I hope you with… exactly? Are you here for the ball? In that… get up?” The woman was looking Liza up and down as if she was a rag picker. Liza’s mind was quiet blank. What on earth could she say she was doing sneaking around the house? This whole thing was a terrible mistake.

“I, well, I uh, I needed, I was looking to-“

“Well! Spit it out girl!”

“I-“

“Ohhhhhhh, there you are miss!” A high and rough female voice came from behind Liza, who froze, now completely at a loss as to what was happening.  “Miss Liza, isn’t it?” Liza could now see the owner of the voice, a small, slight woman in an apron and a small paper hat. “You poor thing, you really must have overheated sum thin’ fierce. I told you to go down the stairs for the loo, not up. Sorry ma’am” The maid said as if she had just noticed the large purple and gold being standing in front of her. “I mean, the powder room.”

“You know… this girl?” Mrs. Iggelsdin almost screeched. The maid looked taken a back.

“Oh no mi lady, not at ‘tall, but I found her quite over heated downstairs. I helped the miss out of her dress and told her to go down stairs to get some relief I did. Poor thing misheard me, didn’t you?”

Liza nodded dumbly.

“And she’s still not well, why the color’s go right out of her I’d say.” The maid looked meaningfully at Mrs. Iggelsdin, as if waiting for her to challenge her story. Instead she pursed her lips.

“Very well, take her down stairs then Ethel. Be sure she doesn’t get into to anymore trouble.

“Yes M’lady.” The maid, Ethel, said with a small bow. Liza felt the color come back to her face and her mind clear, but she decided it was in her best interest to play up her “condition.”

“Yes…” She said, almost as if half asleep. “Thank you soon much Mrs. Iggelsdin. I am sure I will feel better after I sit a spell…” by this time Ethel was pulling Liza by the hand to the stairwell. Liza’s last look at Mrs. Iggelsdin showed the woman to be studying Liza much as a spider studies a fly.

 

As they made their way down to the first floor Liza tried to speak.

“Thank you, I-“

“Hush Mis!” Ethel said, glancing back behind Liza.

“But I-“

“”Shhh, not until you get better, downstairs.” She said the last word with raised eyebrows as they reached the first floor landing.  Liza nodded and followed silently as they went down the next flight into the low floor.

Here the house’s decorations and style became instantly plain as could be. The walls were regular plaster, no paper, and the lights unadorned fixtures. This was the downstairs of the great house where the servants scurried about, bringing up plates of food or bottles of wine or bringing down empty plates and bottles. Ethel steered Liza into a small room filled with shelves of dishes and glasses. The maid closed the door behind her.

“Ethel is it?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Oh Ethel, I owe you many thanks, maybe my life perhaps. I am Liza.”

“Yes Ma’am, your friend told me as much.”

“My friend? Oh, Mary. You know Mary?”

“No Ma’am, but she stopped me as I was passing by and wanted to talk to me. She asked me a couple of questions and then told me to find you.”

“Questions?  Such as?”

“Oh, how long I’d been here, I told her five years, and what I did. I’m a third floor maid, second to the first maid there, but for the party I am helping out in general. I think she was worried about you, thought you might be going through the rooms upstairs. When I hear that I told her I’d better get you quick. The Iggelsdins don’t like people poking around much.”

“No? Why not?”

“Well, I am not supposed to talk much about the house hold you know ma’am, but I don’t mind saying the family is mighty strange. They pay decent but lots of coming and goings.”

“Did Mary mention a Mr. Cogsworth by any chance?”

“No ma’am, but I might have heard the name, now that you mention it.”

“Yes? Is he here? In the house?”

“No ma’am not that I know. Look, I don’t know anything really, just heard the name. I’ll be real honest with you ma’am, you aren’t gonna get much from the help if you’re sneaking around here. Not because anyone here is especially loyal to the Iggelsdins. but because the Iggelsdins just don’t share much with us. I worked at other houses and there you know everything, but here they’ll host people and send the maids and footmen out of the room. And they make it quite plain that they don’t want us telling anything, even if we did know. So I aren’t saying anything.”

“Oh yes, of course Ethel. You did me a great service rescuing me from that woman. I won’t press you any further. If you could do me one more small favor-

“The Dress ma’am?”

“Yes, how did you-“

“Well ma’am, a good housemaid knows everything that happens in a house, right? I have your dress downstairs, I found it on the way up to find you. Let me fetch it for you.”

Part 11 Balloons (NaNoWriMo novel work in progress, lots of stupid mistakes, plot holes, etc.)

Chapter Eleven

The following Saturday Liza found herself pacing the front hall dressed head to foot in a fine reproduction of a King George the third era ball grown. It was a golden yellow and had lacy detail but it bulged around her hips in a most uncomfortable way. She felt contracted by the corset she wore and weighed down by the endless hop skirts. She desperately wanted to scratch in itch she has on her back. How the hell was anyone an actual fan of these clothes, she thought to herself as she attempted to rub her back against a hallway table in a most indelicate, un Georgian kind of way.

Just then the doorbell rang and Rupert, the butler, appeared from around the stairs to answer the door. Liza thought Mary looked much better in her deep purple dress than she did in hers. Mary seemed almost radiant in it.

“My goodness Mary, you do wash up rather well.”

Mary gave a hearty laugh. “As do you Liza. I have to admire your dress, it looks like a radiant sun.”

“Oh, this old thing? I mean it Mary, this old, musty thing! I will be very glad to be done with this fool’s errand tonight.”

“You’re not getting cold feet are you?”

“Feet? No, but I am sure this damn corset is going to end up cutting me in half.”

“Well, then, I think we should get going while you are still whole.” Just then the Colonel stepped into the house behind Mary.

“Colonel Thornsberry, Grandfather is expecting you, come in.”

“Good evening Liza.” he said with a small bow. “Now I am sure your Grandfather has already talked to you-“

“Yes, he has, so no need for a repeat. Don’t look so shocked Colonel. I am not some wet behind the ears private when it comes to these social events. Whatever other failings Grandfather might be guilty of in raising me, he has always made sure I attended the right finishing classes and the right coming out parties. Now, I cannot say I enjoyed any of them or even tried very hard, but I think I can recall enough to fake it.”

“And Uncle, I will be with Liza.” Mary chimed in, sounding a bit too eager, “Mother has done a good deal more than even sending me to classes. She has very drilled me day and night about how to handle these affairs.”

“Truth be told I wasn’t worried about your social graces ladies, more about you skulking around Igsseldin’s house.”

“Ah that, no worries Colonel. I already have a plan to tell anyone I might run into that I was looking for the loo.”

The Colonel registered some schlock at this but soon he and Mary and Liza were laughing loudly.

Just then the General huffed into the hall, smoking a large clay pipe.

“Leave them alone Colonel. This is woman’s work after all.”

“Grandfather!” Liza said. “Honestly, we should send you and the Colonel in our place. And in these dresses!”

“Humph!” the Colonel said. “I should like to see the upstairs maid try and fit me into a corset!”

”Off you go then!” The General said. “Keep an eye on her” He told Mary “She’s libel to get us all in trouble before the night is over…”

 

Liza and Mary arrived at the Igsseldin’s house not a half an hour later. The house was a proper mansion, not connected to any other house, and took up half of a block in the best part of London. Its elaborate Victorian architecture loomed over the sidewalk as the two young women alighted from their cab up to the front door. They joined a steady stream of party goers making their way into the house. It was as if half of London was invited.

“At least we can get lost in the crowd” Liza said to Mary as she gave her invitation to the brutish butler that stood guard in the doorway.

While the night air had a certain chill to it, inside the large house was warm and brightly lit. Liza and Mary came into large entrance hall decked out in what seems like a market’s worth of flowers. Massive arrangements spilled out of large Chinese blue vases. To the left was a large opening frames by folded out French doors that led into a large ballroom. People streamed in and out of the ballroom through the opening, often 2-3 astride. From the ballroom came the sounds of what sounded like almost a full orchestra playing 18th century baroque music. Through the doorway Liza and Mary could see people dancing a Contredance. Off the right side of the hall way was a large room that held tables groaning with food.

“There must be several hundred people here.” Mary said fairly loudly so she could be heard by Liza, envy thought the two were only a few feet apart. They could scarcely get any closer because of their large hoop skirts.

“Yes, this is great, I think. You stay here and look around, see if you can talk to any servants, I am going to take a look around. Oh1 Pardon me!” Liza said as her large skirt bounced off of a gentleman behind her. “These things are impossible!”

“Very” Mary said, “How are we supposed to get about the house in these? We did not plan for this I guess.”

“Au contraire!” Liza said with a smile. “Follow me.”

Mary followed Liza down the large hall until it split into two at a “T.” Liza took a left and kept going until she came to the end. There was a small door next to a side table. She pulled on the handle and opened the door, just managing to squeeze her dress through. She turned to find Mary looking at her strangely.

“What? It’s the maid’s passage. All of these big houses have them. There’ll be a landing here, come on, come on!”

With some effort Mary got herself and her skirt through the narrow door. And, as Liza had said, there was a compact landing behind the door.

“This is where the maids can prepare things, like a tray or perhaps set up a table for cleaning the rooms. All of these houses have them, areas where the maids can do their work out of sight. Terrible, you know, but people want the maids to do everything for them, but not to actually see them doing it.”

“Well, it’s about the same out join the country Liza.” Mary said, distractedly looking around, her massive skirt bumping into the wall.  

“Now, I am still not sure how we are to get about the house.”

“Not we, just me. Watch Mary dear.” Liza took her left hand and reach roundabout halfway to her hip. She fiddled for a moment and then, as if by magic, the skirt around her fell off, leaving her in tan slacks.

“Hey!” Mary said, her face registering shock. “That’s cheating! Where are all of your ruffles and those endless stupid layers of material.”

“Well, I figured since this was all fake anyway, why not make it a good, useful fake. It’s just batting and a handy snap. Now, if you could be so good as to go back out and spy from the dance floor, I will skulk around. Perhaps you will meet nice boy and make your mother happy”

“I would much rather be sneaking around, but I suppose that isn’t very likely in this thing.” Mary said sourly. “Very well, I shall expect you back with in the half hour, if not sooner. Where will you leave your skirt?”

“Just here, on the landing. If a maid finds it I will shall say I got over heated.”

“Good idea. Do be careful Liza.”

“See you soon Mary, do not worry.”