Bethina dismissed the past for the present. No longer would she go home at nine o'clock, the odd human who drifted in and out. From now on she'd stay there, like the other servants did, until the time of her death finally came.
If only it would hold out for a few years.
She finished putting her things away in the new bedroom, then walked downstairs to the basement kitchen where the women were cleaning and preparing what would be their breakfast. Like them, she'd soon wake in late afternoon and go to bed as the sun rose, just as she had the last two summers that she'd spent there.
Both women glanced up at her, but only Sandra acknowledged her. "Have you eaten?"
"Yes, but thank you." Bethina pulled up a chair at the kitchen table and watched Jane add wood to the old cast iron stove. Fini
