Page 19 of The Muse of Maiden Lane

But Jeanette would only stare, one hand covering her mouth.

Stella rushed across the room to the dressing table mirror, wet hair clinging to her face and neck. What she saw in the glass made her legs go weak beneath her. She sank unsteadily onto the padded bench.

“What shall I do, miss?” Jeanette asked, hovering about Stella in distress.

There was only one thing to do.

“Fetch Anne,” Stella said tremulously. “Tell her she must come at once!”

Six

“Circassian gold, my old aunt Sally,” Anne said hotly. Wearing a hastily donned embroidered silk robe over her corset and petticoats, she stood behind Stella at the dressing table, staring at Stella’s damp hair in pale-faced fury. “Any dye worth its salt must surely last more than three days.”

“It was supposed to last a week.” Stella’s teeth chattered in response to the incipient cold. She’d been sitting in front of the mirror for nearly ten minutes, too much in shock to move in front of the fire.

“After which?” Anne prompted.

“The pamphlet said it would gradually fade to a strawberry sheen,” Stella replied.

Anne scoffed at the pronouncement. “And you believed it?”

“Of course I did!” A hysterical note crept into Stella’s voice. “How could they print it if it wasn’t true?”

“There’s no point in us arguing about what’s already done,” Anne said hastily. “Though I must say, these women promising Circassian beauty have a lot to answer for. They’re no better than poison peddlers and quacksalvers, to my mind. Still”—she lifted a damp strand of Stella’s hair to examine the unfortunate hue in the lamplight—“I suppose things could be worse.”

“How could it be worse?” Stella’s tone became shrill. “My hair is green, Anne!”

“It’s not green. It’s…Very well. It’s green. But it shan’t be for long. We’ll simply wash it again.” Anne briskly summoned her maid. “Jeanette? Go to the kitchens and have Cook make up a solution of borax, olive oil, and boiling water.” She turned back to Stella, explaining, “Mrs. Beeton swears by the mixture in her Book of Household Management.”

“Yes, my lady.” Jeanette curtsied before scurrying from the room.

“She fears she’ll be blamed,” Anne said. “Silly creature. I don’t suppose she’s had much experience with hair dye.”

Anguish welled in Stella’s throat. She wouldn’t have thought it possible to feel both shock and hysteria at the same time. The inevitable consequences of what she beheld in the mirror reverberated through her. Her hair was no longer auburn. It was no longer gray. It was the color of congealed pea soup.

“I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.

“It’s rather too late for that now,” Anne replied. “The best we can do is see this through to the other side.”

Stella scarcely registered her words. She was too caught up in her own misery. “Daniel would say this is God’s doing. He’d tell me I was being punished for the sin of vanity.”

Anne gave an eloquent snort. “Rubbish. God has better things to do than hang about Hampshire turning ladies’ hair green. This is deceptive beauty advertising, plain and simple. You’re not the first female to fall victim to it. But you mustn’t despair. We shall soon set it right.”

“What if the borax doesn’t work?”

“We’ll try another hair wash recipe, and then another. We’ll go through the whole store cupboard if we have to.”

Stella met Anne’s gaze in the mirror. Her eyes pooled with tears. “Someone will find out. They’ll discover what a fool I’ve made of myself and carry the dreadful news straight back to London. Society will never forget it. And when Daniel learns—”

“No one will find out.”

“How not? The house party has four days remaining. Even if we do manage to wash the green away, it will only be gray. That alone will cause remark. I’ve had auburn hair since I arrived in Hampshire. No one here knows my real color except for you, your mother, and Mr. Hartford.”

And Mr. Hayes.

But Stella couldn’t afford to think of Mr. Hayes in this moment. One gentleman’s opinion meant nothing in comparison to the condemnation of the whole of society.

Anne chewed her lip. “I suppose we could dye it back. Do you have any of the Circassian gold left?”