By The Sea, Book One: Tess by Antoinette Stockenberg Page B

of Mrs. Hamilton Fish, one of the reigning queens
of Newport Society. lt was dark and Tess could not tell how many
were inside, but she was amazed to see an ordinary scullery maid in
her kitchen-cap lean out the window. Obviously some servants were
being given royal transportation.
    Before long the hansom was pulling into the
driveway of The Ledge. An assortment of coaches and carriages
preceded them in the drive. Impressed by the kindness extended by
some employers to their servants, Tess watched as a motley crowd of
valets, chambermaids, cooks, butlers, and grooms descended
self-consciously onto the drive, laughing and poking one
another.
    I wish Maggie had been invited, Tess
thought with dismay, scanning the faces for someone she knew. But
it was too dark. She was the last to alight. Her cab left, Tess
tied on her mask, and then she was at the door, lifting the knocker
timidly. The door was opened, and Tess blinked. It was not a
footman on the other side of the door but a gentleman's valet, with
a feather duster in one hand and a kitchen pail in the other.
    With utmost solemnity he bowed and said,
"Good evening, madame," and showed Tess inside. Behind the bizarre
costume the face looked familiar. A croquet lawn flashed through
Tess's brain as she stepped into the hall before him, uncertain
what to do.
    He was eyeing her in a way no footman would
ever dare. "Who shall I say is calling?" he intoned.
"No—drat— whom shall I .... No, I was right in the first
place: Who shall I say is calling, madame? Or does madame
prefer to be known simply as Madame X?" he added, with a little
wave of his feather duster toward her mask. His look was roguishly
intrigued.
    He was not wearing a mask, and neither was
anyone else among the servants flitting back and forth behind
him.
    Confused and gripped by a sense of dread,
Tess answered, "I'm not Madame X. My name is Tess Moran." She began
to cast around for Edward Hillyard, but by now it had occurred to
her that everybody was in servants' dress. The
valet—obviously not a valet at all—was stroking his chin with his
feather duster, looking thoughtful. Then he snapped back into the
pompous attitude of a footman and said, "If Madame Moran will wait
here un moment" —and walked over to a heavyset chambermaid
who was polishing the floor behind him with broad sweeps of an
oversized mop.
    Tess felt as though she'd dropped down a
rabbit hole into Wonderland. There was something grotesque about
everyone's behavior—children run amok in a nursery.
    She heard the valet in a loud stage whisper
ask the chambermaid, "Have I invited a Miss Tess Moran?"
    In a voice full of lemon peels the
chambermaid said, "Tess Moran ? My dear, I'm sure you'd have
remembered. Shall we look her over?"
    In the meantime another man dressed in
bizarre livery—his blue and gold breeches clashed comically with
his maroon waistcoat, and he wore his wig backward—came up to Tess
and offered to take her cape.
    "Your cape, your cape, I really must have
your cape," he insisted, dancing around her like a monkey.
    Tess whirled to face him, baffled and
frightened. He'd taken other coats, so he must be acting the role
of cloakroom attendant. But when he began to reach for the ribbons
of her mask, Tess backed away and her cape slipped to the floor. These people are either drunk or quite mad, she thought
wildly. Where is Edward?
    The valet put down his pail and came back to
Tess with his cohort the chambermaid. Together they stared with
blatant curiosity until Tess felt the hairs on the back of her neck
stand on end. Other servant-imposters passing gaily through the
hall, wondering what new sport was afoot, began to gather
around.
    "I quite give up," the valet said, and
tossed the feather duster over his shoulder. "Have you an
invitation?" he asked bluntly.
    "I ... no. I was asked by Mr. Edward
Hillyard—"
    "Eddy!" squealed a servant whose dress
approximated that of a children's nurse. "However did he dare!"
    "Mr. Hillyard has