Therese stepped back, almost recoiling from the very idea. “Oh, no,” she said, hesitating. “I would never wish to bother Lord Darlington with such a matter.”

“I don’t see why not. I can’t imagine what Lord Darlington could be doing that is more important.”

“Right now he is addressing the staff,” Therese told her.

Maggie sniffed with annoyance. “What’s he bothering them about now?” Though it did explain why Nora wasn’t there to help her dress. Maggie walked over to her wardrobe to select an outfit for herself.

“I am not certain. I was told it did not concern me.” Therese tilted her head toward the open door. “Pardon, I must return to little James.”

“Yes, yes, by all means, go,” Maggie dismissed Therese with an absent wave and surveyed the many dresses in front of her. The less she saw of Therese—and baby James, for that matter—the better.

Before she’d selected the day’s outfit, seventeen-year-old Nora burst into the room, red-faced and frazzled. “Sorry, Miss Maggie. I was hoping you weren’t up yet. His lordship was giving us a talk and I just slipped away quiet-like because I didn’t want to leave you stranded here in your room with nothing to wear.”

“Well, you needn’t have worried, Nora. I’m perfectly capable of dressing myself. In fact, from now on let’s just skip this dressing ritual. Really, it’s so old-fashioned. What do you say?”

Nora bustled past Maggie and pulled a charcoal gray frock with a wide white bib collar from the wardrobe and laid it out across a love seat in the corner of the room. “Her ladyship would never hear of that!” Nora objected firmly. “It wouldn’t be right.”

Turning, hands on her hips, Nora looked Maggie up and down. “You’re looking very ooh-la-la today. Very pretty nightgown, I dare say, but has your mother seen it?”