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earth. It was still wet on the outside, as I had worn it to cut flowers, but along the inner hem it was bone dry. I must have accused Rachel unjustly. That mud had been there for hours. It must have been there overnight.
    At the time, I had no reason to suspect that Rachel’s nocturnal ramble had taken her outdoors in my coat, and she certainly didn’t say so. I was privy to most of her crimes, but this one she had kept to herself. Only Willard knew what she was up to, and Willard would gladly have gone to the stake before he’d say a word against Lady Savage.
    As the afternoon wore on, orders flew like sparks from Rachel’s lips, and the servants, including myself, hopped to execute them. A fire was laid in the grate; wine was poured into decanters and one was taken to Aiglon’s room; lamps unwittingly lit too close to the old-new stair carpet were extinguished; other saloon lamps were adjusted, moved, and moved again to allow some rays of light without showing too much detail of the moldering curtains.
    By four o’clock, our nerves were stretched taut. There was nothing more to be done but prepare our own toilettes. I had some trouble finding what I wanted in my new room, for my belongings were thrown helter-skelter on the bed and chairs. At least the gowns were hanging in the clothes-press, and I went to select one. Despite my hazel eyes, Rachel has approved of my wearing light blue. It is my favorite color, and my blue silk is my favorite outfit for an elegant evening at home. It has a low neckline and is embellished with a bit of Mechlin lace and velvet ribbons. Besides a deal of trinkets, my jewelry box holds two necklaces. One is a small strand of pearls, from my grandmother, the other is an even smaller set of sapphires and diamonds. Rachel calls the stones “chips,” but they are so cleverly set in gold that they look larger than chips. I fastened the sapphires around my neck and stood back to admire the effect.
    I brushed my hair till it shone, then arranged a wave to fall forward on the left side and scooped the rest of it up on the back of my head in the basket style. It looked well, but, to impress Aiglon, I decided it wasn’t quite grand enough and hence entwined the pearl necklace amidst the basket of curls. This done, I went to Rachel for her approval. She nodded and handed me her bottle of perfume. One of the small perquisites of living with her was that I was allowed to use her perfume when we entertained or went out.
    I noticed an old book sitting on her dressing table. Its title was An Anecdotal History of Folkestone and Environs.
    “Is that the book you bought for Aiglon?” I asked, looking at it.
    “I’ve changed my mind about giving it to him. It smells musty and the pages are all spotted,” she said, and whisked it into a drawer. “What do you think of this, Rachel?”
    My attention was distracted immediately by her latest theft. There, hanging from her ears and looking for all the world like monstrous diamond drops, were two pendants from the crystal chandelier lamps Willard had polished yesterday. I could only gasp in admiration of her cunning.
    “Rachel, you really are up to all the rigs!” I laughed.
    “You must make yourself a pair, too, Constance, but we shan’t both wear them at the same time. Be sure you take them from the inner side of the lamps. They’ll never be missed. I took mine from the lamp by the door, so you get yours from the other one.”
    “Aiglon will think they’re diamonds and won’t be so generous in future,” I warned.
    “Generous?” she asked, staring. “It is news to me if running this shambles of a place for one hundred pounds a year is generosity!”
    “A hundred pounds! You never told me he paid you!” I gasped.
    A pink blush suffused her face. She hadn’t meant to reveal that fact, and if I had had my wits about me, I would have realized she was quite upset. In retrospect, I wonder if she carefully chose the moment of revelation to put that