A Proper Companion by Candice Hern

stairs with his
not inconsiderable burden.
     
    * * *
     
    The night before their departure from Bath, Emily
crawled exhausted into the cocoon of her featherbed, but found that
sleep eluded her. It had been a busy day of last-minute
preparations, but finally the last of the baggage was packed and
ready to be loaded onto carriages early the next morning. A few
minor crises in the kitchen had needed attention while Anatole
supervised the packing of almost his entire batterie de
cuisine , refusing to trust that the earl's cook would have the
proper equipment. Other minor crises involving linens and a missing
trunk had also been faced and finally resolved.
    Emily smiled as she recalled the excitement created
when Lottie had been invited to travel to London to act as Emily's
maid. Emily had objected at first to the dowager's offer to assign
her a personal maid. The dowager, though, had been insistent that
the demands on Emily's time while in London would require that
someone assist with her wardrobe. Emily had finally capitulated and
had selected Lottie from the dowager's large staff.
    Lottie was so overwrought with excitement that for
once she was speechless. She had grown up as the youngest of a
large cottage family in the Somerset countryside, and it had been
the thrill of her life to gain a position in the grand Laura Place
household in the vast and wonderful city of Bath. The thought of
London was almost too much to bear. When she finally found her
voice, she was more wound up than ever.
    "Oh, miss," she said in breathless excitement. "I
can hardly believe it. Wait'll I tell me sisters that I'm goin' to
London. They're like to bust a gut!" She laughed nervously as she
fluttered around the room, ostensibly to assist Emily with her
final packing, but in fact adding to the general confusion. "I'm
ever so grateful to you, miss," she went on. "I just don't rightly
know how to thank you, proper like. You coulda picked anybody, but
I'm right proud that you picked me. I promise to do my very best. I
really do! Just send me packin' if I don't."
    "I am certain you will do just fine, Lottie. I'm
very pleased that you will be accompanying me," Emily said,
refolding a night rail that Lottie had crumpled in her excitement.
When Lottie realized what she had done, she gently retrieved the
garment from Emily's hands.
    "Please, miss, let me do that," she said. "I'm sorry
I was in such a state. But I know my duties, I do. Don't let nobody
tell you I don't. Sure, I never been a lady's maid afore, but it's
always been my dream, and I been watchin' real close at what Iris
and Miss Tuttle do for her ladyship. I'm gonna do for you at least
as good as them. Better even."
    Emily was very touched by Lottie's concern and
enthusiasm. She made an effort to seek out Tuttle and ask her to do
what she could to help Lottie in her new role, particularly
regarding the care of Emily's fine new wardrobe. Tuttle found it
hard to refuse such a sweetly presented request, and even agreed to
begin to work with Lottie at once. That evening Emily had felt like
a lifeless mannequin as she allowed Tuttle and Lottie to dress her.
Lottie was an excellent pupil. Emily was pleased to discover that
the girl had a natural talent for hairdressing and was able to
exactly duplicate Turtle's intricate coiffures.
    Emily burrowed deeper into her featherbed, chuckling
quietly as she contemplated the unexpected turns her life was
taking. Not only had she allowed the dowager to provide her with an
expensive new wardrobe as well as a personal maid, but she had even
agreed to let Tuttle to take scissors to her hair. Granted, she had
allowed no more than for Tuttle to give her softer, shorter
tendrils around her face, but the effect was one of dramatic change
from the ruthless knot she had worn for so long. Tuttle had wanted
to make more drastic changes, giving Emily a fashionable short
cropped style. But Emily had refused to part with her long, heavy
locks.
    She still believed that all of