Now why was she smiling? I could certainly see nothing to smile at in rising at six o'clock every morning.
"I shall be free on 5th of April, ma'am," she was saying. "Let me see, to-day is the 1st of April——"
The 1st of April! It came to me then in a flash—in one of those moments of intuition of which even the mind of the harassed housewife occasionally is capable. It was Brenda Scott masquerading as a housemaid!
Our conversation of a fortnight earlier came back to me—Brenda's desire to disguise herself and apply to Lady Lupin for the post of kitchenmaid, her confidence in her ability to carry it off successfully, my ridicule of the possibility that she could pass unrecognised. So now, on the 1st of April, she was for proving me wrong.
The disguise was certainly masterly. Had it not been for that unaccountable smile, and the hair——
I did not lose my head. I continued to carry on the conversation on orthodox lines. Then I said, "Do you know Miss Brenda Scott, who lives near Mrs. Copplestone?"
"Oh, yes, I've known her since she was a little girl," was the answer. "Sweet young lady she is."
"Ye—es," I said. "A little too fond of practical jokes, perhaps."
The eyebrows went up almost to the artificial-looking hair, which I had now decided was horse-hair.