Iris giggled hysterically at herself as she examined herself in the mirror. She looked absolutely ridiculous in Daisy's maid outfit, the effect was almost comical. The dress didn't quite fit her slender frame right, it hung out awkwardly at her hips and squeezed a little too tight around the top, but still, she preferred it to the prison of the dresses she usually had to wear to make an appearance in front of anyone.

“You cannot leave your hair like that,” Daisy insisted in a hushed tone. Her face was pale and stressed, she seemed to be having much less fun than Iris with regards to what would happen today. “You need to knot it up at the back of your head, so it does not get in the way while you work.”

“I do not know how to style my own hair,” Iris admitted a little pitifully. “I have always had someone to do it for me. Do you think...” She paused, flushing with embarrassment. “Do you think that you could do it for me?”

“I cannot.” Daisy did not have time to worry about anyone else today. The reality of this crazy plan was weighing heavily on her, she was no longer sure that she could go through with it. The potential consequences were terrifying. “You must do it yourself. Remember, you are not a lady today. Us servants do not have someone to style us, we do what we can with our own appearances.”

“Oh yes, of course.”

Iris grabbed hold of a chunk of her hair and she attempted to weave it around the back of her head in the way that she now realized Daisy must do all of the time. As she twisted it around, strands of hair fell frustratingly back down over her face, making her more and more annoyed as time passed.

“You need to get rid of the concept of perfection,” Daisy told her with more kindness to her tone now. Much as she was worried for herself, she didn’t want to see her friend fall apart either. It seemed that even when her own life was on the line, she could not stop herself from putting Iris’s needs first. “This is not the hair of a lady. It does not matter if it does not look immaculate.”

Iris cocked her head to once side while she considered this. The idea of giving up on perfection was almost too much for her to handle. Appearances and perfection had been forced down her throat from the very moment that she was born. As she wrapped a band around her hair, allowing it to look a little dishevelled, and she laughed again to herself. This feeling was strangely wonderful!

“How is this?” As Iris turned to question Daisy, she suddenly realized that her friend desperately needed her help. Being a maid was much easier than being a lady, the other way around was not. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked her friend. “You are not worried, are you?”

During all the time the girls had practiced swapping roles, they both held onto the notion that one of them would back down. In the beginning, when they were both so terrible at being one another, it felt comical that they might actually go through with the plan, but as time moved on and they both improved, they both became convinced that it would never happen.

But now the family had received communication. Iris’s uncle, Walter, would be here at some point today. It was time for the girls to take this plan to the next step entirely.

"I am just worried that it is obvious that I am lower class," Daisy sighed with defeat. "I do not think I can be a lady in front of a high-class male. This is not a game anymore."

“No,” Iris agreed. “No, it is not.”

She opened her mouth, wanting to tell Daisy that they could still back out now if they wanted to, but the words got stuck behind her tongue. If she uttered that sentence, and Daisy agreed to call it off, she would end up married... and that thought was terrifying enough to make her selfish.

“You have done so well, Daisy,” Iris insisted instead. “You now act just like me, and you have all the manners and etiquette exactly right. And look at yourself.” She twisted her around until Daisy could see herself in the mirror. “You look like a beautiful, sophisticated lady. Much better than I do when I am in all of those clothes.”

Daisy could not deny what Iris was telling her, she did look the best that she’d ever done in her life. If she examined herself too closely then she could spot flaws in her skin, and awkwardness in the dress, small little signs that she did not truly belong, but a man was much less likely to pick up on those things.

Or so she hoped.

“We will still tell him that it is a silly, girlish prank if he guesses, won’t we?” Daisy asked hurriedly. “It will be alright?”

“Oh, of course.” Iris waved her hand dismissively, while secretly hoping that it did not come down to that. “We may get a small telling off, but there won’t be anything to worry about.”

“Miss Warwick, Daisy,” a panting tone of voice rang through the room, causing them both to jump. They turned to see one of the other maids, Eloise, standing in the door frame with bright red cheeks. “I am sorry to disturb you, but you asked me to tell you... oops, sorry.”

She curtsied, unsure of how she was supposed to act around these girls now. She had never seen much of Iris before, Daisy was always the one to spend time with her, but now over the last few days, all of the serving staff had seen the girls more and more as they concocted their crazy plan. Not everyone agreed with what they were doing, but no one dared to speak out their concerns because it was the first time a lot of them had ever seen Iris smile.

No one wanted to be responsible for sending her back into her bedroom for another six years, so they all agreed to help.

“Remember, you do not have to curtsy to me now,” Iris warned.

“But you do me.” Daisy grinned triumphantly. “But only when there is company around.”

“Oh, right, yes, I understand.” Poor Eloise was getting herself more and more confused. “I just wanted to inform you that your uncle is here.”

Iris and Daisy stared at one another with wide, shocked eyes. The time was upon them, there was no holding back anymore. They did not even have the time to switch back into themselves.

“I... I suppose we better go down the stairs then,” Daisy replied breathlessly. Her head swam, she felt sick with fear. She would never have agreed to this if she knew how terrifying it would be. “To greet your uncle.”

“Your uncle," Iris reminded her while rubbing her back gently, trying to comfort her. "Do not forget, as of this point you are now Iris Warwick, and I am Daisy, the servant girl."

She couldn’t help noticing that there was something oddly liberating about that statement. As a servant girl, she could be out among people but no one would want to look at her. She could blend into the background, become a part of the wallpaper. Iris felt excited to see how this would work.

Daisy wrapped her arms tightly around Iris for a moment, trying to convey that she was doing all of this for her. There would not be another soul on the planet that she would throw her life on the line for. But Iris deserved it... if it all worked out.

Eventually, the girls walked slowly down the stairs, as if they were in a procession. Daisy remembered to hold her head high, she jutted out her chin and adopted an air of arrogance, just as she had seen other high-born ladies do. She shook off the shackles of being only a servant girl and she felt herself be reborn into the role of Iris Warwick – one of the most highly desired women in the town.

I can do this, she tried to convince herself in her mind. I can be a lady, just for one day. There was a part of her that wanted this to succeed for herself too. She wanted to prove to herself that she was much more worthy than the world had let her believe. If she could become a lady, even if it was only for a short period, then maybe everything would not seem so bad.

Daisy positioned herself by the grand front door to the Warwick home, and she clasped her hands together in front of her, in a very ‘Iris' way. It was lucky that she had always paid attention to her friend because she found it much easier to step into her shoes than she thought it would be. Her heart raced in her chest, her mouth ran cotton dry with anxiety, her knees were knocking together under the beautiful gown that she had on, but outwardly she just about managed to keep her cool.

Iris felt much more confident than Daisy. As she stood behind her and waited, she did not hold any of the nerves that Daisy did. She felt confident that this man who had never met her would believe that Daisy was her, and she was also very happy that he would not even glance one eye at her. It was lovely for her to just be a nobody, she felt like it was something she could get used to.

As the door swung open, everyone braced themselves expecting a tall, powerful man to be on the other side. Highborn men often held themselves in a certain way, commanding respect even when they did not deserve it. Daisy found many of them intimidating too... but there was something about Walter Andrews that made no one feel that way.

He shared the same lighter hair that Iris and her mother had, and he had the pale skin too, but it was challenging to notice much more about him because he hunched so far forwards. It was almost as if he did not like the eyes of the world upon him either. His black coat shrouded him and his body language was one of a man who would rather be left alone.

“Hello there, Uncle,” Daisy declared with maybe a little too much fake gusto. “It is wonderful to see you looking so well.” Iris had coached her on what to say initially, but Daisy could feel the words slipping from her mind. “I... I am... I hope the journey over was not too terrible.”

“Mmmm,” Walter grunted back, clearly not wanting to be engaged in conversation.

Daisy glanced desperately at Iris, but she gave her an encouraging nod back. As far as Iris was concerned this was going very well!

“Would you like...” Daisy made a sweeping gesture with her hands. “Shall I get one of the maids to make you some tea.”

“Yes,” he snapped back simply.

Iris bristled herself, she felt that it was wrong for a man to be so rude to her friend, but she caught herself before she could express her disgust as she remembered that it was not her place.

Maybe one of the less liberating things about being a maid was the restriction of opinion.

“Then let us go into the dining room.” Somehow Daisy managed to remain strong. “The staff will bring us our drinks into there.”

Iris hated to leave Daisy alone, she suddenly felt compelled to oversee everything, but she needed to race downstairs into the kitchen if they were going to pull this off. The girls had decided that it would be better for Iris to do as much serving as possible, to test the limits of what they could get away with. Without anyone to compare her too, Walter would likely accept Daisy for who she said she was without question, but if Iris was around, he might pick up the qualities within her that were very much like her mother.

In short, if they could fool him, they could fool anyone.

“How is it going?” The cook, Betty, asked desperately as Iris tore into the kitchen. She had been so worried about all of this from the moment that the plan had been unveiled to her that she’d bitten down all of her nails. “What happened with your uncle?”

“It is good,” Iris insisted with a smile. “Daisy is doing a wonderful job of being me. Now it is my turn to see if I can be her.”

“Oh you will have no trouble,” Betty answered with a deep warmth. “I have witnessed you practicing over the last few days and I am certain that you will do really well.”

Iris paused just for a second, before grabbing onto the tray, thinking about how wonderfully the serving staff had treated her recently. Of course, some of them were shocked when Iris revealed their plan, but after the initial surprise, they had been nothing but supportive of her. She couldn't help wishing that she had spent more time at least allowing these people into her life a little more. Her time in this house would have been much richer if she had.

“Thank you very much, Betty,” she replied with a large smile. Betty noticed how much more beautiful this girl was with a grin, her entire face lit up with it. “I will let you know how this goes.”

The tray shook lightly in Iris’s hands as she returned to the dining room. Her uncle was sitting at the head of the table – in the seat that used to be her father’s – and Daisy was sitting across from him. Walter looked a little more like he was paying attention now as Daisy explained the grim details of Iris’s father’s death.

"The illness got to him quickly then?" Walter leant in closer as he spoke. "There was not anything that the doctors could do?"

“He did not give me all the details,” Daisy answered honestly. “But it certainly seems that way.”

“He never liked to talk, even to my sister. I felt sorry for her when she had to marry him, but she seemed happy enough.”

This stunned Iris much more than it did Daisy. She was not used to people speaking ill of anyone else, particularly not the dead. It also struck her that this man knew her father well, and her mother even better. If the circumstances were any different, she could speak to him about her. She could ask him what she was like as a child, and how she was similar.

But those questions would have to go unanswered because she needed to keep up appearances.

“Here is the tea,” she commented softly, while curtsying. Daisy had taught her that whenever she was in doubt she should curtsy. It was a sign of respect that the wealthy could not get enough of. Despite the fact that Iris thought it was very silly, she went along with it anyway. “Shall I pour you both a cup, Sir? Miss?”

At that moment, Walter turned around to face Iris and he looked at her. He really looked at her. He examined her closely while narrowing his eyes as if he felt confused. Iris's heart stopped dead in her chest, and she felt certain that Daisy was afraid too. He was staring at her much too intently, it seemed that their plan was already over. Now they would have to face the consequence of what they had done...

“Yes, tea, please,” he eventually commented while twisting away from her. “Now, Iris,” he addressed Daisy. “What is it you were saying about your father’s funeral? Was it a terrible affair? I felt awful that I could not travel on time...”

Iris breathed deeply, maybe too deeply. She could not believe it; they had gotten away with it! Her uncle believed that she was a servant and Daisy was a lady. It was almost too good to be true. They could move forward, they could continue on and really get into these roles.

Speaking of which...

Iris picked up the tray and took it over to the table with a smile on her face. It was time to finally serve.