A Fair Fraud — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee ee ee ee A Fair Fraud 29 siderably surprised by the conversation and demeanour of the two ladies when they retired for the night to the privacy of their own apartments. | | The maid, who truth to say was only a young person taken on a job for this especial visit, had been sent to bed. She was not a maid at all, properly speaking, but the daughter of the landlady at some lodgings in London where Mrs Lane had lately stayed, who had gladly consented to undertake the job, and had thought it great fun to come with Mrs and Miss Lane on a visit to a large country house and to pass herself off as their smart lady’s maid. She had talked a great deal in the housekeeper’s room this evening about ‘ My Lady This’ and ‘ My Lady That,’ former mis- tresses whom she had professed to have served, and whose names she had taken at random out of a Society paper. Trimons, Mrs Drury’s ancient Abigail, had been considerably im- pressed by her conversation, and told her mistress afterwards that Miss Weeds, Mrs Lane’s maid, had certainly lived in ‘very ‘igh places, indeed.’ | Mrs Lane was, however, quite independent of Miss Weed’s ministrations, She sat now before the dressing-table combing out her own golden hair, or rather a scanty portion of it, for in front of her, amongst the silver-backed | WOO oO C' Q)