Inked Stories

True to her word, I received a brief note in the post on Tuesday morning from Amelia confirming that she would be arriving at Arundel Court around half-past five the following day and would expect to stay the night. Georgina was thrown into an orgy of anticipation and yet again had to be disabused of the notion that she would be joining in whatever activities I had in mind for my new friend. More pouting and flouncing fol...

Prior to entering Georgina's employment, Mary has been invited to observe her new mistress at work in defence of the realm... So it was that at four o’clock the following day, Jimmy and I entered a cupboard on the landing and slipped down a passage to the window that looked out into Georgina’s boudoir. From her side the window was a mirror and, as she had explained, it was through this that the photographs were taken. It...

Bancroft Hall, Dorsetshire, England. September 1902. In the late afternoon of the second day after her arrival at Bancroft, the countess returned from a ride and found me in her sunlit bedroom tidying up, as befits a lady’s maid. I noticed she was moving stiffly and enquired as to the problem. ‘I almost fell off my horse in the woods on the far side of the lake,’ she answered, her slight German accent noticeable in the qu...