The Maid's Secret

“If you’re reading this, it’s because the person to whom I’ve entrusted this diary has chosen this moment for you to know the truth about me…and about yourself, too.”

The opening words of Gran’s diary raise questions: to whom has Gran entrusted the diary, why would “this moment” be the right one, at what point in Molly’s present-day narrative will “this moment” occur, and what surprising truths might Gran reveal about both herself and Molly? These questions add to the tension of the narrative, as they will not be answered for some time. This reinforces the structural purpose of the diary itself in the mystery—because it is interspersed into Molly’s present-day narrative, it delays revelations about how Molly’s story unfolds by interrupting her storytelling.

“I was certain that I was missing something, that as usual I was failing to comprehend the obvious. I decided to voice what was on my mind: ‘All that glitters isn’t gold,’ that’s what my gran used to say.”

Molly’s struggle to understand why Beagle and Brown are so excited by the golden egg illustrates her instinctive honesty: Not only is she forthright about her own limitations in understanding social nuances but being forthright is also her default setting. When she is confused and does not know how to respond to a situation, her instinct is to just honestly “voice what [is] on [her] mind.” “All that glitters isn’t gold’ is the most frequently repeated of all of Gran’s aphorisms. It serves as a warning that sometimes things that appear to be treasures—like the golden egg and, by extension, wealth itself—may not be as valuable as they seem. This lays the groundwork for the book’s exploration of The Impact of Class and Privilege.

“[I]t was grander than any museum you’ve ever visited, more austere than a mausoleum, more imposing than a supreme court of law.”

The details Gran offers about the setting of Gray Manor support the themes of the impact of class and privilege and the value of love by highlighting the way that great wealth can interfere with genuinely warm and loving relationships. Gran asserts that Gray Manor is more extreme than several types of buildings associated with the public display of possessions, family status, and power: a museum, a mausoleum, and a court. This suggests that her home was devoted to these values, as well, instead of being a warm and comfortable place full of love.

“‘Bless your little black bob,’ says Brown. ‘Bee-lievers, you’ve just met Molly Gray—maid, marvel, and millionaire.’”

Brown speaks to Molly in the condescending, slightly mocking way people often speak to children. This is typical of the way that Brown and Beagle speak to their guests, a habitual banter that amuses their audience and positions them as more knowing and powerful than the people who appear on the show to seek their expertise. For Molly, it is confusing and even somewhat upsetting, as she cannot make out the purpose of their mocking tone.

“The list of blessings is long—my husband-to-be, my gran-dad, my job at the Regency Grand, my home, my health…my wealth? But no sooner do I have the thought than I begin to fear the loss of all of the aforementioned.”

As Molly lies in bed enumerating her blessings in order to calm her mind and ease into sleep, she suddenly realizes that she has one new blessing to add to the list—her sudden wealth. The passage’s punctuation with an ellipsis and question mark reveals her hesitation and uncertainty. Molly is not sure that wealth will turn out to be a blessing and has the foreboding sense that it may endanger the things that have real value to her.

“We reap what we sow, and if we do not cultivate kindness, malice springs from the soul and poisons everything.”

Flora begins with one of her signature aphorisms—“We reap what we sow”—and then elaborates, explaining that people who do not make a deliberate effort to practice kindness end up creating problems for themselves and those around them. Flora is about to explain how this principle is demonstrated in her own life, but she has already taught Molly this lesson so that Molly does not have to learn it for herself. Molly’s belief in her grandmother’s ideas is clear in her present-day actions, as when she continues giving Cheryl chance after chance—an act of kindness toward her unethical coworker.

“Why the crew and lookie-loos laughed at that, I have no idea, but I’m getting used to laughter and baffling comments like ‘She’s so funny!’ and […] ‘I can’t get enough of Molly the Maid!’”

Molly is unprepared to be the center of attention; her unguarded, pragmatic words often spark laughter that she does not understand. Since Molly’s words are her honest thoughts and not in any way intended as a joke, the crowd reactions she repeats here are condescending and suggest that the people around her view her as a childlike curiosity rather than an adult equal.

“She kept touching the double row of diamonds on her necklace, a piece so heavy it called to mind the yoke of a draft animal.”

Audrey’s gesture as she greets the Braun board members highlights her nervousness. Flora’s simile comparing the necklace to a draft animal’s yoke points out that Audrey, like everyone else in Reginald’s orbit, is not treated as an equal—or even as a fully human person. She is bound to his service like an animal, trapped by her own ambition. Her collar may glitter, but it is still a “yoke” marking her status.

“With each repetition, the soul of the act was lost […] I could tell that Juan felt robbed, as if a very simple pleasure had been stolen from us, something we never even knew could be taken away.”

Juan’s and Molly’s reactions to the film crew making them repeat Juan’s kiss over and over point out that there are more precious “treasures” than the golden egg, and that the value of love is greater than any amount of money. Molly’s diction—Juan feels “robbed” and something is being “stolen” from them—also foreshadows the theft of the egg later in the same chapter.

“‘My dear girl,’ I said. ‘We should always look past the grime, for what lies beyond it may shine more brightly than anything imaginable.’”

Gran’s advice to Molly is a corollary lesson to her often-repeated aphorism that “All that glitters isn’t gold” (34). Just as things that look valuable and impressive on the outside may turn out to be worthless distractions—as Algernon will soon prove to be—things that appear less valuable on the outside may turn out to be the greatest treasures—like John Preston.

“A tie? They’re nooses in disguise. Anyhow, this is how we swing in Saint-Tropez. The girls don’t seem to mind.”

Algernon’s first appearance is full of warning signs. He flaunts his privilege and power by dressing inappropriately for her family’s ball, refusing the “noose” that everyone else accepts. For the same reason, he name-drops Saint Tropez, a fashionable playground for the wealthy—he hints at the exclusive world to which he belongs and to which, should she please him, Flora might someday belong, as well. He also makes sure to subtly let her know that, should she be too critical of his choices, there are plenty of other women who “don’t seem to mind” the way he conducts himself.

“I put the key in the lock—a perfect fit. I turn it once, and like magic, something clicks.”

Molly has been waiting to find out what Flora’s key opens for years at this point, and so the experience of finally fitting the key into the diary and opening the lock seems magical and surprising to her. The passage’s diction also points to another, more figurative, kind of “unlocking.” The phrase “something clicks” is commonly used to refer to the turning over of a mental “lock” and a sudden insight. Here, the phrase does double duty. In a literal sense, it means that Molly has succeeded in unlocking the diary. In a figurative sense, Molly is finally in a position to understand The Repercussions of Family Secrets.

“Darling, it’s not about what you want. Let the men wear camouflage and shoot at things if it makes them feel virile.”

Audrey’s words are a reply to Flora’s protests about her engagement being celebrated with a hunting party—but they could equally apply to the engagement itself. Flora’s engagement is about what the male heads of the families want, not about what Flora wants. Because she is female, she is like the deer—something to be hunted and conquered, not an equal partner in their decision-making.

“Your job is to keep your mouth shut and look pretty on my arm. Can you manage that?”

Algernon finally lets his mask slip and speaks his real thoughts to Flora. Like the parents of both families, Algernon thinks of her as nothing more than a pretty object—one that his family has purchased and has a right to control. His tone is both dismissive and casually cruel, highlighting the culture of the high-class society Flora is a part of and connecting to the novel’s exploration of class.

“When I asked her what she meant, she merely shrugged, but I knew. It was only a servant who’d died, not one of us. We weren’t equal in life, so why would we be equal in death?”

Audrey’s callous reaction to Mrs. Mead’s death shocks Flora and shifts her perspective on her parents’ classist attitudes, helping to support the text’s theme of the impact of class and privilege. To this point, Flora has always unquestioningly accepted the inequality they espouse—but the extremity of the current situation opens her eyes to how unfair and inaccurate their beliefs really are.

“Do not underestimate the power of money. With money, anything’s possible.”

When Molly again expresses a wish for her life to return to normal, Thomas Beagle responds by extolling the value of money. His values are the opposite of Molly’s—a fact that foreshadows the eventual revelation that he is the egg thief.

“My aunt always knew more than she let on, Flora. Maids take care of one another. There’s a whisper network among them.”

John has to explain the solidarity among maids to Flora, because at this point in her life, Flora knows next to nothing about life outside of the upper classes. The point that John makes about maids taking care of one another is a point that Molly often makes to the maids who work under her at the hotel—showing once again how Molly’s ideas are an inheritance from not just Flora but John and Mrs. Mead, as well.

“Beware […] You may be a coveted treasure one day and pitched to the curb the next. I would know.”

Flora addresses this comment to the Fabergé egg after her parents begin alternately ignoring and disparaging her again following the dissolution of her engagement. She metaphorically compares herself to the egg and her fate to being “pitched to the curb” like trash. Ironically, this is exactly what will happen to the Fabergé egg after the death of J. G. Grimthorpe.

“Life is unpredictable. Like an episode of Columbo, it never turns out quite the way you think it will. Some hitch takes things in a new direction you could never have foreseen from the outset.”

Many of Gran’s diary entries begin with lessons about life she has distilled from her own experiences. Here, she is talking about her discovery that the birth house is a terrible place, but the lesson applies to Molly’s adventures with the golden egg, as well. Even from beyond the grave, Flora is still imparting wisdom to guide Molly through life.

“And she truly believed I was a princess. Nothing I could say would convince her otherwise.”

Flora still does not fully understand how very different her life has been from the lives of most other people. Amelia’s belief that she is a princess is not literally correct, but it is figuratively correct: Flora has lived a life of immense privilege that is only dimly comprehensible to someone like Amelia. She has been insulated from understanding her own good fortune, taught to believe that privilege is her right—much like the hereditary position of a royal.

“‘Deceased […] a boating accident in Saint-Tropez not long after I was born. He was with my mother, and he fell from the yacht without her even noticing.’

‘Pushed,’ I said sotto voce.”

After Baxley Brown explains how Algernon died, Molly immediately assumes that Algernon’s wife pushed him overboard for being as terrible to her as he was to Flora and other women. Ironically, he died yachting in Saint Tropez—an activity he loved for the way it broadcasted his wealth and privilege—and potentially at the hands of a woman—after spending years inflicting violence on the women around him.

“We both come from a bad lot, and we want to do better.”

Molly’s words to Brown are characteristic of her positive, kind nature. She makes sure that Brown understands that she does not blame him for his father’s and grandfather’s actions. Instead, she thinks of her own grandparents, Reginald and Audrey, and her resolution to be a better person than they were. This outlook helps situate the text as part of the feel-good fiction subgenre by encouraging a practice of leaving bad things in the past and focusing on a more positive future.

“Those who do not know love place no value on it […] But people like us, who do know it, who see it and feel it and cherish it, possess a treasure that can never be taken away.”

Gran closes her diary with her final piece of advice to Molly and a summation of what she calls the moral of her story: Love is the most important treasure, and it cannot be stolen. This principle guided Flora throughout her adult life and guides Molly now—Molly does not care about what happens to the golden egg, because she is focused on her relationships with Juan and the others she loves, knowing that this is the most valuable part of her life.