Chapter 4
NELLIE PRECEDED Johanna into the formal room to the right of the main entrance. The door was opposite Father’s study, whose door was still closed. A smell of smoke seeped into the hall. She also smelled perfume that definitely didn’t come from Father’s visitor.
Johanna went into the formal room and found that her visitor was Mistress Daphne, the Lurezian seamstress. She waited, primly seated on a chair next to the hearth. She was perhaps ten years older than Johanna, tall and elegant, a dark-haired southern beauty. Today she wore a plain working dress in moss green with little edges of lace at the sleeves. She might not look spectacular, but as far as fashion went, she was the best of the best. She knew how to dress to look elegant and not take any attention away from her well-
