<div class="floatleft">(http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/content/images/2006/12/05/sophia_myles_470x352.jpg)</div>Lucy Durst had been raised from infancy at the country estate of Lord and Lady Kent.  Her mother had been the head cook there, protecting her kitchens with a fierce expression and the threat of knuckles rapped with the wooden spoon she wielded.   Even now, at the tender age of twenty, Lucy's hand still smarted when she thought back with fondness to clumsy attempts to steal a tart or pastry.  And her father had been stable master, given free reign to teach his only child to ride when the earl's family was not in residence, instead spending the Season at their home in London.<br/><br/>All of her memories of childhood were ones that filled her with warmth, but her favorites were the ones that involved the vision of beauty before her.  Lady Katherine Elizabeth Davenport.  Lucy had cherished the times when the earl's family was in residence, looking forward to time spent with her dearest friend.  They'd had so much fun together, Katie sneaking her dollies into Cook's kitchens so the girls could hide in the nook beside the cupboard to play or wearing an old dress of Lucy's so they could tiptoe past the footmen and catch frogs at the creek.<br/><br/>And then, when Katie entered the schoolroom, she would drag Lucy into her chamber at night.  "Mrs. Elderberry says a lady must know enough about all topics to be interesting but not so much to be a nuisance.  Come, Lucy, we shall practice being ladies together."  And so Lucy had secretly learned how to do more than be a scullery maid, taught by a girl her own age to read and do sums by candlelight.<br/><br/>As they grew older, their friendship had changed, deepening into what they shared today.  But it had also become more clandestine.  At fourteen, Lucy had entered into service as a lady's maid for her friend, traveling back and forth from London to the estate in Kent.  Publicly, Lucy was no more than any other personal servant would be, but when they were alone, there was so much more between them.  There was friendship born of a deep and everlasting love developed in childhood.  Katie was her confidante, the one person with whom Lucy could share her fanciful dreams of being free, of becoming more than a broodmare for a stable hand.  And Lucy was, for Katie, the one person with whom she needed no façade.<br/><br/>With a dramatic sigh, she picked up a hairbrush from the dresser and listened to the concerns of her mistress.  She was, of course, duty bound to do so, but she would have lent an ear regardless.  "I swear, Katie, your father and I seem to be the only ones who do not have misgivings.  Really, how bad can he be?  He's handsome, at least, so you won't have to worry about becoming ill at the sight of him.  And he's only sort of old, not yet decrepit.  Really, it could have been worse," she only half-teased.  So much worse.  Lucy had glimpsed Lord Covington through an upstairs window when he'd come to ask for Katie's hand, and her breath had been taken away.<br/><br/>But her lackadaisical attitude was contrived.  She was not without worry.  Katie had shared with her the rumors her brother had shared about Lord Covington, and it seemed as if he was shrouded in secrecy, his life covered by a hazy veil that made Lucy afeared for her beloved mistress.  It wasn't that she was fearful that any harm would befall Katherine; no, her father and brother loved her dearly and would not wed her to a cruel man.  Rather, Lucy worried that Katie would be hurt by a husband incapable of seeing her warmth and beauty, one who hid her away while he did whatever it was that the men of the peerage did when they were out and about.<br/><br/>"Come, let me arrange your hair.  You need be the most beautiful lady in attendance tonight, and I shall do my part to ensure your coup."  As she ran smooth bristles through Katie's long tresses, her mind wandered to her own mother.  Too old to work in the kitchens now, she and Papa lived in a little shack on the Kent estate, near the edge of the adjoining village.  Mama had wanted her to leave Katie's service, to settle down and marry and work for the earl.  But Lucy had refused.  Abandon Katie just as she was embarking on the most frightening adventure of her life?  No, she would not even consider such a thing!<br/><br/>Besides, marry and settle into a life of having children and working her fingers to the nubs so that she turned old before her time?  Was there a fate worse than that for a creature like Lucy, a girl who longed to be free of the constraints of the poor?  She'd rather join a nunnery!  And that, she knew with certainty, she did not want.  Her adventures in the barn with Thomas Bonner had taught her that.  No, Lucy had plans that she'd shared with no one.  She would see Katie settled and happy, and then she'd leave to find her own fate, one of her own creation.  For four years, she had been hoarding her hard-earned money for it; already, she had saved twelve pounds!<br/><br/>Stepping back, she looked at her creation with a critical eye.  "The color of this fabric is perfect with your eyes."  Her own, also blue but nowhere near as lovely and vibrant a hue, lit up as she whispered conspiratorially, "Katie, I have an idea.  We will figure out your Lord Hugh once and for all.  When you're making all of the men fall in love with you and all of the ladies green with envy, I will have a little time on my hands.  What do you say to a little investigative work?"