On a rainy night in a modest cottage of a London suburb, a bitter and puritanical woman in her early fifties lies dying. It is the 1970’s. More than twenty years ago Ann extracted a promise from her neighbor Molly, and now on her deathbed, Ann desperately reminds Molly that she is not to disclose to Ann’s grown children the truth of Ann’s parentage. Molly reluctantly agrees. Ann is adamant that Oliver and Elizabeth never know they are the only grandchildren of Daniel Sloane and Victoria Kingsley, two of America’s brightest silent film stars. Victoria, now a widow and in her early seventies, is still alive and living in Beverly Hills on her famous estate, Golden Green.

Elizabeth makes it to her mother’s side just before Ann dies. Oliver could not be summoned because he disappeared some years ago, during his early twenties – and good riddance it would seem. Ann’s last words to Elizabeth do not betray the secret.

Over the next days, Elizabeth is sorting through Ann’s things, with the help of Molly. Molly is saddened to see Elizabeth’s stoic demeanor, her indifference. Elizabeth, now in her early thirties, walked away from a promising stage career years ago, and then walked away from the “perfect” marriage. Now she is employed as a housemaid. Molly is heartsick to see Elizabeth this way and tells her so. Elizabeth responds with quiet horror that more and more she sees the world through her mother’s eyes. Molly makes the decision to break the promise to Ann; she tells Elizabeth of her family heritage. Shocked, then very glad, Elizabeth determines to go to America. But to Molly’s dismay, Elizabeth is not going as the granddaughter; she is going as a housemaid. Not knowing the circumstances, doubting that Victoria Kingsley knows of her existence, not comfortable with turning up as an heir, Elizabeth goes as domestic help with the hope of getting to know Victoria Kingsley.

And after some months in America, Elizabeth does secure an interview and then the post as a maid at Golden Green. The household is run by Jacques, the butler, who has been in the family’s service for decades. He is absolutely loyal to what he perceives as the image of Victoria Kingsley. There is a cook and two maids on the premises, as well as a part-time secretary. The only other staff member is the nurse’s aide to Mrs. Kingsley. Also living at Golden Green is Victoria’s brother, Hugh, a vapid, eternally-adolescent man in his early sixties, and Victoria’s twin, Maggie, who lives at the back of the grounds in a bungalow. Maggie is a painfully shy and eccentric old woman who has spent much of her life in and out of mental institutions.

Elizabeth is greatly disturbed to learn that no one sees Miss Kingsley except for the butler, the brother, the nurse’s aide and, occasionally, the attorney and the family doctor. Just as distressing to her, it turns out that “the grandson” lives in the guesthouse and has been there for several years. Oliver is not pleased to see her, but he is agreeable to maintaining her charade as a maid.

In spite of the circumstances, Elizabeth manages to meet Miss Kingsley and then become her personal maid. She lavishes care on her grandmother who grows quite dependent and demanding of her “maid”. Elizabeth cannot help but be disappointed in the character of the tyrannical old woman and, ultimately, her guilt at her own duplicity results in her decision to quit Golden Green. However, the night before she will resign, Miss Kingsley is murdered, smothered to death with her own pillow. Most of the individuals on the estate have motive and opportunity but no alibis. And Elizabeth’s actual identity is uncovered so she understandably becomes a prime suspect.

However, even more surprising to the police captain is another identity charade; the murdered Miss Kingsley was actually Maggie Kingsley, the “mad” sister, and the woman living on the grounds as Maggie is actually Victoria, the silent film star – who made the audacious and successful switch with her sister some years ago. Victoria, a strong and perceptive woman, has engineered an existence safe from the specter of her fame.

Victoria’s masquerade has been known only to the attorney and the doctor, and an old family friend. She “changed places” with Maggie several years back, rejecting the life she thought she had to live as a Star. As the investigation continues, Elizabeth and Victoria finally meet, not as the maid and the mad sister, but as who they really are to each other.

A few days after the death of Maggie, a simple method is devised by the police Captain and carried out at Golden Green. It is revealed that the killer was Jacques who’s love for his mistress would not allow her to divest herself of the trappings of her stardom.

The final scene is between Elizabeth and Victoria where the granddaughter begs her grandmother to take her rightful place again, to not “run away” from what she is, just as Elizabeth has spent so much of her own life doing. Reluctantly, then resignedly, and finally with joy in this granddaughter, Victoria agrees.

© 2003, Darlene Bridge Lofgren