Regency 101: The Lady's Maid

In Lady Katherine's Comeuppance I didn't go into a lot of detail about the servants. For one, I was focused on my main characters and second, I didn't want to get any of the details wrong. I continue to go with "vague but not inaccurate" as my method, though I hope to improve with my next Regency (Yes, it's in the works. squee!).

I've read a number of books and online sources about the Regency Era and one described a scullery maid as a young girl who assisted the cook by scrubbing the pots and was usually "not pretty enough to be a lady's maid." Ouch!

A lady's maid was usually an attractive young woman who could become quite close to her mistress. She woke her in the morning, often serving her hot chocolate or tea in her bedchamber, assisted her in dressing and styled her hair. And that was just what she did before breakfast.

The position of lady's maid was rather prestigious within the household. A lady's maid often received cast off clothing from her mistress which she could either keep for herself or sell and keep the money. She was also privy to the private goings on of her mistress' bed chamber, if she paid attention, so discretion was also a good quality to have.

In Lady Katherine's Comeuppance, Katherine's maid is named Rose. She doesn't have a large role in the story, but she is on the fringes of a couple of fun scenes.

Enjoy!

       Katherine looked around her bedchamber. It was usually her sanctuary, but tonight being there caused her great anxiety.

        Rose, her maid, had entered the room to assist her with undressing for bed. Once her gown had been removed and replaced with her nightclothes, Katherine sat down at her dressing table. Rose took possession of the gown and while she waited for the maid to take down her hair, Katherine looked at the implements on her dressing table.

          Where her hairbrush ought to have been, there was a sealed note, the name “Katherine” written in a distinctly masculine hand.

          The air left her lungs and she looked around to see if her maid had noticed. Seeing she had not, Katherine opened the note.

          Do not take down your hair. It is a pleasure I wish to have for myself.

         Her fingers shook as she folded the note and slipped it into a drawer of her dressing table as silently as possible.

         She looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed. She could also see the tips of her breasts had suddenly hardened to stretch against the thin fabric of her nightgown.

         When her maid came to stand behind her and reached for the pins in her hair, Katherine stopped her. “You look tired,” she said to the shocked servant. “I shall take the pins out myself. Good night.”

         The maid looked at her in stunned disbelief before she turned and left the room.

 

                                                              ****

[The Next Morning]

“Your hair feels unusually soft this morning, Lady Katherine. You must have spent extra time stroking it.”

Stroke it. See how it responds to your touch?  

Thoughts of Thomas’ manhood throbbing in her hand, as he showed her how to pleasure him, lingered in her mind and not until Rose addressed her again did she realize she had not responded to the servant’s question.

Each time the bristles touched her scalp a memory from the night before crashed through her thoughts. Thomas yanking on her hair and ordering her to expose her most intimate secrets to him.

Directing her to open the lips of her vagina with her own trembling fingers. The hungry way he had licked his lips when she slid her fingers around her wet folds.

His demand that she touch herself the way she had the night before. Her humiliation morphing into unbridled pleasure as she indulged herself for his view and her own.

A painful tug at her scalp drew her back from her reverie. “I am so sorry, my lady,” the maid looked horrified at her own error. “I did not expect you to move so abruptly. ‘Twas as though you were in a trance. Are you feeling well?”