//CLARA//
Hattie was already there the moment we opened the door.
Her face went from relief to horror in the span of a heartbeat. Her eyes darted from my torn dress to my wild hair to the bruises already darkening at my throat, and her hands flew to her mouth.
"Oh, Miss Eleanor! God in heavens! What happened?"
"I found her in the creek," Casimir spoke first, sounding flat and clinical. "She fell."
Hattie looked like she might faint. Her hands fluttered at her sides, unsure whether to reach for me or call for help or simply collapse.
Before she could decide, a voice cut through the hallway.
"What in the devil happened here?"
Aunt Cornelia stood at the end of the hall, her arms crossed, her face a mask of cold disdain. She wasn't looking at me. Of course she wasn't. She was looking at Casimir.
I watched her sweep toward us, her skirts rustling against the floor.
So, the she-devil has finally emerged from her lair.
