The water had cooled. She shivered and pulled her knees to her chest. The pipes in the walls began to gurgle. She watched as the hot tap slowly turned and water gushed out, warming her from the feet up. First, the voices outside, and now, the tap turning in response to her thoughts. Nothing about Hill House could surprise her anymore.

The prospect of being primped for a party was as appealing as being thrown into sackcloth and ashes and paraded through a street lined by a baying mob. Even so, when Sally arrived, Lou sat obediently at the dressing table.

‘Are you happy in your work?’ Lou asked. It was an attempt to direct her thoughts to something – anything – other than her non-existent “plan.”

Sally pushed a pin into her hair, securing a coil in place. ‘Happy? I can’t say I’ve ever given it much thought. I suppose I am. At any rate, I’d much rather be working than sitting idle at home every day. Not that I’d get much chance of that with Albert under my feet.’

Lou smiled. It was impossible not to smile whenever she thought of those blonde curls and that button nose. ‘But if you could have any job – any job in the whole world – what would it be?’

She watched Sally in the mirror. Sally pinched another strand of hair and held it out in a straight line, the tip of her tongue poking from between her lips as she twisted the strand and gave the question serious thought. ‘I suppose I’d like to do this all of the time. Doing hair, being around nice clothes, putting powder and rouge on ladies’ faces, sewing on the odd loose button or stitching up a hem. Now that would suit me down to the ground.’ She laughed. ‘But I might as well wish to fly to the moon as to become a lady’s maid. It’ll be back to cleaning windows and scrubbing the hall floor for me when you go home. A housemaid is what I am and a housemaid is what I’m likely to stay.’

A light bulb flashed on in Lou’s mind. Perhaps she shouldn’t. Oh, what the hell. ‘Sally, I’d like you to go to town on me tonight.’

‘Go to what?’ Sally asked, her expression a blank.

‘Push the boat out, you know, make a meal of me. Show everybody at the party your genius in transforming a sow’s ear into a silk purse. You never know who might be there and be in need of a new lady’s maid.’

‘Oh, Miss,’ Sally chuckled. ‘The things you say. In any case, it’s a pleasure to get you ready for any evening. You’re so obliging. And you’re naturally very pretty. You don’t need half the make-up that some ladies do.’

‘Stop it,’ Lou laughed. ‘You’ll have me blushing. And I mean it. Tonight, I am in your hands entirely. Do with me what you will.’