Just a brief reminder of something mentioned at the end of this chapter: in the book, Jane didn't bring her sister Blanche's dead canary and a rat. Instead, she brought a dead bird she'd most likely found in the garden and later a perfectly good meal covered with fine, white sand.

But now it's time to meet the second protagonist of this story! :)

Lynn White sat down in the last vacant chair and looked sideways at the other women in the room. She'd been shown into the house and the hallway by a nice man who'd told her to wait until Miss Hudson was ready to see her. He'd apologized on the woman's behalf for the inconvenience of waiting, but with all the calls for the maid's position, the times of the interviews had somehow gotten mixed up. So now she would have to wait.

When Lynn had first seen the ad in the paper, she had naturally concluded that Blanche Hudson must be a rich woman to be able to afford a maid. But seeing the house now—a brilliant ageless fortress of faded glamour—she was forced to change her judgement to "very rich". She could have been one of those lucky heiresses with an insanely successful businessman for a father.

There were five other women in the room with her. A black woman in her forties was knitting. A tired older lady looked as if she was struggling to keep her eyes open. And then there was a young brunette jitterbug who somehow seemed to manage to look at both of the women she was sitting next to at the same time and talk.

"I didn't really believe it at first. Can you imagine? Me! At Blanche Hudson's house! The Blanche Hudson! I sure hope she ain't as mad as they say her sister is. I mean, I know she was the victim, but you never know, do you?"

The rest of her words were lost to her as Lynn finally started to put the pieces together. She had thought the name had sounded familiar when she'd read it in the paper. Blanche Hudson was one of Lynn's mother's favourite actresses, and Lynn herself had seen all the old pictures they'd shown on TV these last two months. Her mother had anxiously followed the news in the papers, concerning the Hudson sisters. The whole story came crashing back to her as Lynn strained her ears to hear what else the brunette had to say. However, her thoughts were racing in her mind. She was in Blanche Hudson's house and about to be interviewed for a job as her maid!

After the first shock had worn off, Lynn began to wonder what Miss Hudson should look like now. When she'd seen her movies, Lynn had thought Blanche Hudson was the most beautiful woman in the whole world. But she had been forced to retire more than twenty years ago. She would be a lot older now, and who knows what her sister could have done to her in her mad jealousy. Lynn decided to prepare herself to meet an old woman—in every sense of the word.

One by one the women were asked into what Lynn guessed must have been the living room. They stayed for a few minutes, and then left with a distant expression of admiration on their face. When the black lady started to leave, Lynn mustered up enough courage to ask her how it had gone. The lady answered that Miss Hudson had been insecure.

Lynn waited and waited. The young jitterbug entered the room and left. Lynn had a feeling she hadn't stopped talking for a moment.

When the nice-looking man finally opened the door for her, Lynn was the last person in the room. After the last lady had left, she'd begun to fidget nervously. Lynn had no idea what she should say at a job interview, furthermore, one with Blanche Hudson. She'd only ever worked at her mother's laundry, and never before in her twenty one years had she had to go to a job interview.

Lynn looked up at the man hesitantly, but he was not looking at her. In the doorway, he had turned back to face the living room.

"Is that the last of them?" a female voice carried to Lynn, and she was petrified with recognition.

"Just one more, Miss Hudson," the man replied, and turned to face the last occupant of the corridor with a friendly smile.

"I'm getting tired of them coming in here and staring at me as if I were an animal in a zoo." The voice of Blanche Hudson sounded weary, and Lynn felt the sudden urge to get up and leave the grand house. If Miss Hudson didn't want to see her, what was the point of going in to meet her?

"Come on in, Miss," the man called encouragingly, and beckoned for Lynn to enter the living room.

Keeping her head decidedly low and clutching tightly at her purse, Lynn stood and walked stiffly over to where the man was standing. She passed him with a silent nod of acknowledgement and entered the large living room. The man closed the door behind her, and Lynn realized he had left her to face Blanche Hudson alone.

Lynn White was rarely scared of meeting new people, and after having seen so many of her pictures she reckoned she shouldn't be of meeting Miss Hudson. But the former movie star's words had stung deeper than she'd thought. She couldn't even look up at Miss Hudson's face.

Her eyes registered the wheel chair and the deep wine red dress that was covering a pair of stiff lean legs. However, she didn't dare look at her face, lest she saw annoyance or even disdain in the old woman's eyes.

"Hello," Blanche Hudson said softly. She sounded awfully pleasant.

"Hello," Lynn replied mechanically.

There was a silence, and Lynn figured the actress must be looking her over. She knew she was not exactly movie star material, but she'd never considered her blonde hair and relatively slim body to be something to look at for longer than a moment. Even if the actress found her homely, she shouldn't have taken so long to regard her.

"Won't you sit down?" Finally, the words came, and gratefully, Lynn dropped onto the sofa closest to her. She held on to her purse with cramped fingers and tried to mentally fight against her nervous habit of chewing on her lower lip.

"I suppose you must be Lynn White," said Miss Hudson. Her voice was so gentle and melodious it was almost unbearable not to look at her.

"Yes," Lynn replied quietly.

There was another, longer silence. It was almost scary how quiet it could get in this house. The only things keeping Lynn from getting up and leaving were her need for employment and the good-natured tone of voice Miss Hudson had just used. No one who had such a charming voice could really be an unpleasant person.

"Is everything all right, Miss White?" Miss Hudson broke the silence in a concerned tone. "You haven't looked at me once since you came in that door."

Lynn felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. Never mind what she'd heard in the corridor, she hadn't realized that deliberately not looking at Miss Hudson would be considered even more ill-mannered than staring at her.

"I just..." she managed, annoyed at herself for the plainness of her voice compared to Miss Hudson's. "I didn't want to make you feel like an animal in a zoo. I heard you say that earlier," she explained apologetically. To her great relief, the response she got was a soft amused chuckle from the actress.

"You're honest," Miss Hudson stated. Her smile was even audible in her voice. "I like that. But of course you can look at me, Miss White. Or am I really that scary?"

In her hurry to make her mistake right, Lynn's head snapped up, and words started pouring quickly from her lips. "No! You're not! Not scary. You're..." She stopped abruptly as she finally dared to look at the other woman.

And she was nothing like what Lynn had imagined. Instead of the old, wrinkled face she had feared, there was a mask of waxen beauty with the same high cheekbones and voluminous lips as the young woman on the screen some twenty-odd years ago had possessed. Instead of dull, tired orbs, there were lovely light blue eyes, filled with the same lively glimmer as years before and a considerable amount of wisdom only the passing of years could have provided her with. Her expression was one of good-natured curiosity, a friendly smile on her lips. All in all, Blanche Hudson was just as beautiful as she had used to be, perhaps even more so now that life and experience had softened her features.

"… beautiful."

Blanche Hudson blinked her bright eyes in mild surprise, and her smile grew. "Thank you."

A soft humming accompanied the footsteps that Blanche heard approaching her room. And these footsteps weren't the slouching, tired ones Blanche had gotten used to living with Jane. They were light and airy strides of a young girl. Blanche turned in her chair to face the doorway. Her new maid had just entered.

"Good morning, Miss Blanche," she chanted happily, striding over to the desk with her breakfast tray.

Lynn White was a pretty young girl, with a slightly chubby face, bright blue eyes, and an adorable smile. She'd done up her blonde hair and put on a lovely pastel green dress. Of all the women Blanche had seen about the job, Lynn had been the last, and also the only one she'd immediately liked. She had seen jitterbugs and glory hounds, gossiping fans and lazy youngsters, but the minute the shy young blonde had walked in, Blanche had felt like they could become friends. They'd quickly established a comfortable relationship and agreed on the terms of Lynn's employment. She was more than happy to not have to travel between work and home; Blanche had put her in one of the long-unused guest rooms just across the gallery from her own room.

"Good morning, Lynn," Blanche replied with a warm smile. It was so easy to be nice to someone who was nice in return.

Lynn left the tray on the desk and proceeded to close the window Blanche had had her open the night before. "Miss Blanche?" she said without turning around to look at her. "I wonder. How can you get dressed all by yourself? I mean… I'd thought you'd need help, but you're clearly very independent." Lynn finished with a kind of reserved expression, indicating she'd let the words leave her mouth before considering them.

"Well," Blanche smiled at her innocent curiosity. "I'm not exactly dressed, am I?" Lynn's eyes fell on the robe she was wearing. "I have had to learn to do a lot of things on my own," she admitted. "But I'm afraid with the dress I'll still need your help."

"Of course," Lynn nodded, and made haste towards the door. "I'll be back when you're finished, shall I?"

Blanche glanced over to the breakfast tray, and her head suddenly began to spin just a little. She knew all right that there couldn't possibly be anything unpleasant under the cover upon the plate. But nevertheless, her raised hand was suddenly seized by such a trembling that Lynn must have also noticed it.

"Is everything all right, Miss Blanche?" she asked concernedly, leaving the doorway once again.

Blanche swallowed her dizziness and nodded stiffly. "Yes," she spoke thinly. Looking up at the young woman beside her, she made a feeble attempt at smiling. "Could you..." she said shakily. "Could you please lift the cover yourself?"

Lynn's eyes widened slightly at the request, but she reached over without a word and lifted the covering cloth from the warm toast.

Blanche let out a small relieved sigh. "Thank you."

Lynn studied her odd expression for a long moment. Blanche looked up to find her watching her. Feeling awfully silly, she realized she should explain. If Lynn was going to live with her, she ought to know what she was in for.

"My sister," Blanche confided in a small voice, "Jane… She brought me a dead bird." She closed her eyes at the sickening memory, as Lynn gasped in horror.