A Masked Deception

Devin returned Charlotte to Brampton's house and drove away feeling like public benefactor number one, and convinced that the little chit was not really as silly as the bulk of the new crop of debutantes. Quite a fetching little thing, in fact!

"Meg, Meg." Charlotte took the stairs, with shocking inelegance, two at a time. She burst into the drawing room to find her sister reclining on a chaise longue, reading a book.

"Lottie, my love, what is it?" Margaret asked, laying aside the book and regarding her sister with some alarm. "Did Mr. Northcott upset the phaeton?"

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that," Charlotte answered impatiently, tossing parasol, bo

Margaret stared and then laughed. "Lottie, my love, I lost you after 'Vauxhall,' " she said.

Charlotte sank down onto the sofa with a resigned sigh. "I shall explain again," she said. "Oh, Meg, please, could we ring for tea?"

Margaret got to her feet and obligingly rang the bell.

Charlotte began again. "Mr. Northcott has promised to make up a party to go to Vauxhall Gardens one night," she said. "He told me that almost everyone goes there wearing masks. The thing is, Meg, that you and Lord Brampton must accept the invitation, but at the last moment you must stay behind-you must have the headache, I think. Lord Brampton must go, of course, to accompany me.

"When we are gone, you will dress as Marie Antoinette again, with a mask; then you must follow us to the gardens and made sure that Lord Brampton sees you. Then he will fall in love with you and you can reveal your real identity. It can't fail, Meg."

"It is quite the most absurd plan I ever heard in my life," said Margaret.

"Name one thing wrong with it."

"I can name several," she said. "For one thing, I am no longer a girl to play games. Second, I do not still have the costume of Marie Antoinette. Third, how would I get to Vauxhall alone at night? Fourth, Richard would probably not give me a second glance even if I were dressed as before. Fifth, if he did pursue me, he would recognize me immediately. Sixth, it is wrong to play such tricks on my husband. And seventh, it couldn't possibly work-could it, Lottie?"

"Of course it would work," Charlotte replied, quite undaunted by the list of objections. And she crossed to the chaise longue, sat beside her sister, poured the tea, which had arrived a few minutes before, and proceeded to hammer out an ironproof battle plan.

"Oh, Lottie, do you really think it might work?" Margaret asked anxiously fifteen minutes later, her voice almost pleading. "I really do not believe I could."

"Phooey!" her sister replied.

Chapter 4

The date for the visit to Vauxhall Gardens was set for three weeks in the future. Devin Northcott had wanted to make it sooner, but the ladies of the Brampton household were strangely full of excuses. There could be no doubt, though, that they wanted very much to go. The party was to be made up of Devin, the Earl and Countess of Brampton, Charlotte, and Sir Henry and Lady Lucy Wood, the latter being Brampton's youngest sister.

Margaret and Charlotte were extremely busy with all the activities of the latter's come-out. The days were filled with shopping expeditions, visits, rides in the park; almost every evening had its activity-the theater, the opera, musicales, balls, di

Charlotte was easily accommodated. Madame Dumont undertook the not-too-demanding task of making her a domino and a frilled mask, both of emerald-green satin. Margaret visited the costumier from whom she had hired her costume six years before, not at all hopeful that the Marie Antoinette outfit would still be available. Even so, she was disappointed to discover that she was right.

She was ready to abandon the scheme there and then. Charlotte, however, was more resourceful. She found out from Kitty the name of the dressmaker who had her workrooms in a street of London not quite as fashionable as Bond Street. She dragged her sister there the following afternoon and together Margaret and Miss Thomas sketched a dress that closely resembled the one Margaret had worn before. She chose a similar fabric, too-a heavy silver brocaded silk. She also agreed to Miss Thomas' suggestion that the full skirt be decorated with seed pearls to give it extra weight and sparkle.

A mask was also agreed upon-silver silk, as before, to cover her forehead, cheeks, and most of her nose.

Then the sisters had to visit a wigmaker's, not so easy to find now that wigs for everyday use had fallen out of fashion. Margaret was fitted for an elaborate powdered creation, typical of those worn by the ladies of a couple of decades before, high on the crown, one ringlet to drape over a shoulder.

To complete the outfit, they shopped for bright wine-colored slippers to match the fan that Margaret had used on the previous occasion and that she still possessed. She also bought some lip rouge, feeling very daring. She had never owned cosmetics before, but felt that the silver-and-white garments would need a little color. The lips, fan, and shoes would add just the necessary touch.

Kitty had to be taken into Margaret's confidence. She was going to need help on the night of Vauxhall, and Charlotte would not be available. She had expected Kitty to be downright disapproving. She had even been a little afraid that Kitty would rush off to tell Richard. She reckoned without the fierce love of her maid, who had appeared tight-lipped and disapproving for the last couple of years because she felt that her mistress was deliberately hiding her charm and beauty. Her own husband, for example, had never seen her hair except in its tight braids. And Margaret's hair, under the loving strokes of Kitty's brush hand, was her crowning glory-thick, shining, wavy, and waist-length.

Kitty was as excited as Charlotte by the plan. But she did veto one of the details. She was horrified by the idea of having her mistress hire a hackney cab to take her to Vauxhall and bring her back again.

"No, my lady," she had said, her lips setting in a thin line of obstinacy, "it just won't do. I'm not going to have my lady jaunting all over London alone at night, so don't you think it."

But it was Kitty who finally hit on the solution. She was "stepping out" with Jem, one of his lordship's grooms. She had a private conference with him and he declared that he would have no problem in taking out his lordship's plain town carriage on that night and driving her ladyship to Vauxhall himself. He added another suggestion of his own. He would wear a plain domino and mask so that he could accompany the countess into the gardens and make sure that no harm came to her before she met the earl.

Both Kitty and Jem were told that the whole escapade was to be a prank to see if the Earl of Brampton would recognize his wife in costume. Kitty, though, who remembered another Marie Antoinette costume years before and who knew that her mistress and his lordship did not have as close and loving a relationship as Kitty would have liked, put two and two together and came up with four. She kept her own counsel, though. She said nothing either to the countess or to Jem.