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 ...