Vivian's expression was about as cold as was to be expected, though I couldn't get past her initial reaction and how she'd seemed so vulnerable, trembling as I'd been trembling, though I imagined for different reasons.

What was she hiding? The two sweet ladies in the other room were nothing to be ashamed of, were they? At least she seemed to be taking care of them, I'd give her that. But the impression I had they were somehow trapped here, like prisoners in this gilded ...