Beauty and the Old Maid, By Debbie Cowens

“Which do you think best? The pink or the yellow?”

The young girl swiveled in front of the mirror, holding up first the pink taffeta gown and then the marigold silk.

“You’d look well in either one, I’m sure,” the old maid replied. Her tone was flat, burdened with duty though the girl heard nothing but politeness. Nellie was impatient with the young girl’s excited fussing. She had better things to do then act as a mere lady’s maid; she’d been running the castle for years, ensuring that every servant did their work and that the household ran like clockwork. However, the master had wanted her careful and efficient hand preparing the girl for tonight. He wanted everything to be perfect and she knew why.

“I suppose I must seem silly to you,” the girl apologized. She lowered the gowns and turned to face the maid.

“It’s not my place to think anything of the sort,” Nellie replied, catching sight of a sliver of her own reflection behind the girl’s. She wondered when her face had become so thin and drawn, and when her grey hair had lost its last touch of chestnut. It didn’t seem so long ago that she’d been a young girl flustered with excitement at the prospect of an evening of dancing and romance. However, the mirror told a different story as did her heart which seemed to have lost all its sympathy for the anxieties of youthful ardor.

“It’s not just the dress. What if I trip over his feet when we’re dancing? What if I tear the dress? What if…”

“I’m sure you have no reason to fret so.”

“But the spell? Tonight is the only night in the year that the curse can be undone. What if I ruin everything?”

“You won’t,” the old maid placed a strong hand on the girl’s shoulder and steered her over to a chair in front of the dressing table. She picked up a brush and started running it through the girl’s hair with calming strokes, brushing it to a glossy sheen.

“You have to help me choose, Nellie. You know him better than me,” the girl pleaded.

The maid’s composed expression didn’t alter but she was pleased by the appeal to her superior understanding of the master. “If I were you, I’d choose the cornflower silk gown. To bring out the blue in your eyes.”

“I didn’t see that one,” the girl got up and ran back to the carved wooden wardrobe. She rustled through the mass of dresses until she found the elaborate embroidered gown. “It’s perfect. Thank you, Nellie.”

“Here, let me help you on with it,” the maid started loosening the laces on the bodice of the dress so that it would be easier for the girl to slip into.

“To think that I shall be able to choose anything I like from the wardrobe,” the girl said, putting her arms through the sleeves with great care not to tear their delicate lace cuffs.

“Aye, you’ll have all these,” the maid said as she started fastening the bodice laces around the girl’s narrow ribcage. “But a wardrobe full with fine dresses is no reason to stay here if that’s all that’s tempting you.”

“What do you mean?” the girl drew in breath as the laces were tightened around her narrow waist.

“It might seem like a grand castle to you now but the long winters are cold and fierce. A castle is no warmer than a humble hut if you don’t have love, and a beauty like you might have her pick of the boys in the village.”

The girl giggled in spite of her restrictive lacings. “Nellie, you make it sound like you want me to leave. Don’t you like me?”

“It’s not for me to influence you one way or the other,” the maid said as she finished tying the laces in a secure bow. “I know the master cares for you but I wouldn’t want you to stay if there was any chance you’d be happier with a normal life.”

“I don’t want a normal life. I could never be happy without him. I love him.”

The maid picked up a diamond locket from the dresser and swept the girl’s hair aside so that she could fasten it around the girl’s neck. “Well, if that’s true, I’m sure you’ll be happy here,” she said, letting go of the locket and allowing the cascade of brown curls to tumble down back over the girl’s neck.

The girl hurried to the mirror to check her reflection. Her fingers brushed over the sparkling cluster of diamonds hanging from the delicate chain, then she turned back to look at the maid. “Do you think he really cares for me, Nellie?”

The maid had to smile at the earnest expression on the girl’s face. “I do. He was starting to lose hope, talking like he didn’t want to go on before you came. He’s more like his old self now that you’re here,” she assured the girl before taking a step back to inspect her appearance. “You look lovely, my dear. A perfect beauty.”

“Do you think it’ll work? If he kisses me at midnight, he’ll turn back?” she asked, her eyes wide with hope.

“If there’s truly love for him in your heart, the change will happen.”

“What was he like before the turn, Nellie? You knew him all those years ago, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did,” she smiled at the memory of happier times. “I’ve been here since I was even younger than you.”

“And did he look like the portrait hanging over the main stairs?”

“I think he was even more handsome. His hair was as golden as the midday sun and his smile could melt the frost on a winter’s morning.”

The bedroom clock struck eight; its timid chimes, echoing the larger clocks that resounded throughout the castle.

“It’s time,” the girl took one last nervous glance at her reflection before turning back to Nellie. “I have to meet him in the ballroom now, don’t I?”

The maid nodded. “Will you be wanting me to walk down with you?”

“Yes, please,” the girl nodded, hurrying towards the door. “I’m so excited I’ll probably trip down the stairs.”

“Don’t worry so,” the maid took hold of her arm and led her out of the bedroom. “You’ll have a magical evening, one that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”

“You’ve been so kind to me, Nellie,” the girl said as they hurried down the steps to the ground floor of the castle.

They walked in silence down the passageway towards the ballroom. The silver candelabras lining the corridor had been lit and fresh flowers from the garden had been brought in, filling the castle with their sweet fragrance. Even someone who didn’t know about the curse would have realized that this night was of special significance.

“Go on then,” the maid stopped outside the arch-shaped door.

The girl smiled back at Nellie before she opened the door and walked into the flood of candlelight and music beyond in the ballroom.

The old maid lingered by the door after it was closed. There was a crack between the solid oak and the ancient stonework of the wall. She peered through into the dazzling light of the ballroom. She did not notice the magnificent chandelier or the rich appointed furnishings of the room. She saw only her master, the beast, his ancient eyes staring out of his monstrous face with entranced yearning as he watched the beautiful girl walk towards him.

At that moment, she could see they loved each other with the same perfect clarity with which she remembered the night when she’d been the girl who had caused his transformation back into a handsome lord. Nellie’s love had not faded with the passing years but her power over the curse had. She had stayed with him, learning the names of the beauties that had come before her, whose dresses filled the castle’s wardrobes and whose brief mortal lives were but flickers of hope in the eternal darkness of his existence. She had felt the toll of the years through the growing sorrow in his eyes as he watched her become older. Finally, the grief that they were doomed to be divided in time had grown too great for the master and he’d turned back into the beast.

She watched as the lovers began to dance and then she walked away, her footsteps lighter than they’d been in years. Once more her heart was filled with hope that he would be changed, saved, and loved. She could feel no jealousy or resentment now. Her role in the immortal tale of beauty and the beast had come to an end but her love for him, like those before her, had not.

That would go on forever.
*

The author, Debbie Cowens, tells EC, "I am a New Zealand writer and I currently live on the Kapiti Coast with my husband and son. I have worked as a English language instructor in Japan and more recently taught English and Media Studies at High School."

The image is called "Juliet and Her Nurse," by John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope.