No answers until morning

Sleep came slowly to Charlotte, but when at last her eyes closed she slept deeply with no dreams not waking until Sarah entered her room in the morning to open the drapes and bring her a pitcher of warm water for morning toiletry.

"Good morning Miss." Sarah gave her customary curtsy. "It is a lovely day today, as clear and pleasant as a body could hope for." As she spoke Sarah disappeared into the changing room and returned shortly with a gown of white-worked cotton. The dress had a tailored bodice of lilac coloured poplin that had been made for her in London by a French dress-maker who never failed to bemoan the fall of fashion since the rise of Napoleon. The dress was pretty but one of the least comfortable of all her gowns, in order for the bodice to fit her oversized frame a stiff undergarment of whalebone stays had to be laced tightly around her waist and lower ribs.

"Very well, Sarah." Charlotte acquiesced without a fight, and let her lace up the half-boned corset that lifted her breasts to fill the low cut neck-line of the top. She hated wearing tight corsets like this while riding, but for strolling the gardens and sitting with her aunts the stiff undergarment was not that uncomfortable. A half -bonnet with a matching lilac ribbon completed the look and Charlotte wondered what Mr.Fuller would say if he could see her in the dress.

"Sarah," Charlotte asked her maid as she was lacing the corset, "do you remember Mary Fuller?"

"Yes Miss, the poor thing." Sarah was perhaps five or six years older than Mary had been, close enough for her to been friendly with the young maid, so Charlotte is not surprised that Sarah felt sympathy for the dead girl. Perhaps fearing she had offended her mistress Sarah added a qualifying statement. "I know what she done was wicked and a sin, Miss, but I still felt for the lass."

"Me too Sarah." Charlotte reassured her, and then in what she hoped sounded almost like a careless afterthought she added. "Did anyone ever figure out who the man was?"

"No Miss, but tweren't none of the housemen or grooms. Mr. Nathans, he made sure that none of our lads had been taking liberties with young Mary." Sarah gave one more tug on the corset and deftly knotted the ribbon tucking the ends neatly into the laces. Charlotte digested the information as she carefully rolled her stockings up her calves smoothing the sheer silk over her thighs while Mary clipped the clasps to the hose. Sarah's fingers were warm on her thighs, and for the briefest moment Charlotte imagined Mr. Fuller's fingers touching her that intimately. The sudden heat in her loins was as embarrassing as it was unexpected and she hoped Sarah didn't notice her reaction."

As the full cotton skirt of her dress was lowered over her head she considered what Sarah hadn't said. If Mary hadn't been compromised by one of the man-servants in the estate, then the culprit must have been either a lad from the village or one of the many men who visited her father. It could have even been one of her suitors, who thought that a dalliance with the pretty young scullery-maid would be a pleasant distraction from the tedious business of courting the young Lady of the house. It was not a pleasant thought.

The poplin bodice laced around the her ribs further lifted the pale mounds of her breasts until a man might be convinced that her modest bosom was actually twice the its actual size.

"That will do Sarah." She stopped her fussing maid as the girl brushed at her skirts again. "Is my family up yet?"

"Yes Miss, your father left word that he would be breaking fast in the solar and asked you to join him at your convenience."