“I will go down at once,” said that lady. “Helen, my shawl.”
“Yes, madam,” said Helen, gracefully offering the dainty trifle of a shawl; and then Mrs. Lennox sailed downstairs, and the two girls dropped to the floor and rocked back and forth in silent paroxysms of mirth.
Then a bell summoned Helen and Millicent, and, resolutely assuming a prim demeanor, they went downstairs side by side and presented themselves for orders.
Although a woman of age and experience, Lady Pendered had never seen just such lady’s-maids as these before, and she raised her lorgnon and stared at them with perhaps pardonable curiosity.
“Millicent, attend these ladies,” said Mrs. Lennox, easily. “I trust she will make you comfortable, Lady Pendered. Helen is my own maid, but I beg you will command her, Lady Lucy.”
Lady Lucy Pendered was a pale, willowy girl of perhaps eighteen or twenty, with light-blue eyes and straw-colored hair which was most exceedingly frizzed. Millicent and Helen promptly disliked her; but with demure deference they relieved the distinguished visitors of their wraps and hand-bags and preceded them upstairs.
Arriving at their rooms, Lady Pendered dismissed Helen, declaring that Mrs. Lennox must need her, and stating that she and her daughter could easily manage with one maid. Which Millicent discovered to mean that Lady Lucy would monopolize her services, and Lady Pendered would shift for herself.
As a beginning, Lady Lucy reclined languidly on a couch and thrust out her foot, which was heavily shod, after the most exaggerated English fashion.
For a moment Millicent felt annoyed, and her face flushed deep red; then, remembering it was a game, she threw herself into it in her own whole-souled way, and, dropping on her knees before the pale-haired aristocrat, she removed her heavy boots, brought her slippers and put them on for her, and then proceeded to assist her through the intricacies of a very elaborate toilet.
Millicent afterward confessed to Marjorie that she did want to burn the Lady Lucy’s noble forehead when she frizzed that ridiculous nest on top of her head; but at the time she was a most exemplary lady’s-maid, deft, patient, and willing.