A Solemn Promise

XV

"Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness." Susan Gale

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XV.

Grace and Ruby were both awoken the next morning by the sounds of their bedroom door being opened. Grace had heard Ruby enter the room in the early hours of the morning, but she hadn't roused herself properly to tell her the news. Of course, her promotion to lady's maid would be the only piece of news she would be sharing.

She sat up in her bed suddenly, worrying if the duchess had returned to take back her offer, but instead Grace was faced with Mrs Hayes. She was carrying a black uniform, the same kind that she had seen Miss Naismith wearing.

"I am sorry to wake you both," apologised Mrs Hayes, "but I thought I would deliver your new livery, Grace. Or rather, Miss Denham," she corrected herself.

Grace's eyes widened. She supposed she would be called Miss Denham now as a lady's maid.

"New livery?" asked Ruby groggily. The poor girl was awakened with only three or four hours of sleep. "Whatever for?"

"The duchess has favoured Miss Denham," replied Mrs Hayes, a sense of caution in her voice. "You have best ready yourself now, Miss Denham. You will want to have enough breakfast in you for when the bell rings and you are forced to abandon your tea." Mrs Hayes laid the uniform down on the end of Grace's bed. While still bent over, she looked up into Grace's eyes. "You best be careful now, Grace," she warned in a whisper, only for her ears. "The duchess does not bestow gifts. There is always a price."

Grace nodded, even though she already knew the price. She knew exactly the price she would need to pay, and she was willing to pay it, not matter how it hurt her. She could withstand pain.

Mrs Hayes righted herself and went to the door. "I will see you both down at breakfast. Quickly now. This is our guests' first Sunday in church. I am sure there will be quite a spectacle about it." She then closed the door behind her.

"The duchess has favoured you how?" pressed Ruby, waking herself up further, sitting up in her bed.

"She asked me to attend Lady Sarah Ashley," replied Grace. "Just last night."

"Well," remarked Ruby, surprised, "that is lucky indeed. Are you trained as a lady's maid? Do you know how to fix hair? How to dress a lady?"

Grace pursed her lips awkwardly. "No," she confessed, "I am not trained, not in the way that I have travelled to France for courses. But I can fix some styles, and others I will learn. I can certainly dress someone."

Ruby didn't seem angry, but surprised, just as Grace had been momentarily before the duchess had revealed her ulterior motive. "Will you insist upon me calling you Miss Denham as we have to address Miss Naismith?"

Grace giggled before throwing her pillow across the room at her. "Don't be silly," she scolded playfully.

Ruby grinned, before tossing her red hair over her shoulders dramatically. "Please do feel obliged to practise fancy hairstyles on me of a night-time. Even in the morning, and I might tuck my hair under my cap. I would love to have something fine done to my hair."

"I might take you up on that offer," confessed Grace, before she climbed out of bed. She picked up her new livery and held it up against her person to measure the fit.

***

Mrs Hayes had been right. Grace had barely had a chance to sip her tea and take a bite of porridge before the bell in Lady Sarah's bedroom sounded.