//CLARA//
I woke to the creak of a door. Morning light cut through the small inn window, and the space beside me was already cold.
Casimir was gone.
"Good morning, Miss Eleanor."
My head snapped towards the voice. Hattie stepped inside, holding an emerald dress over her arm.
"Hattie." I sat up, dragging the blanket over my bare breasts. "How are you here?"
"Mr. Guggenheim sent a rider to the estate before dawn." She walked over to help me out of bed. "Mr. Higgins is downstairs with him now. Waiting for you."
"Is he… how is his side?"
"He's fine, miss."
Hattie assisted me into the dress—no corsets today, thank God—and within twenty minutes, I looked like a proper lady of the Gilded Age again.
We walked down the creaking staircase into the small common room. The innkeeper and his wife were wiping down the counter.
I stopped at the threshold.
"Thank you for the hospitality last night. Truly."
The innkeeper's wife gave me a solemn wave of her hand. "Safe travels with you."
