About this story
When nine hundred dollars disappears from an unlocked cabinet upstairs, twenty years of service count for nothing against the five hundred dollars Fannie has just banked after four years of saving. The chapter ends with handcuffs on your wrists and a bundle of dated pay receipts still unopened on the table.
How it opens
Morning glories climbed the Hamilton cottage a hundred paces behind Maurice Oakley's house.
The farewell dinner requires every tray we own and patience we have not counted.
You had served the Oakleys for twenty years and meant Francis's last evening to run perfectly.
Joe HamiltonI finished shaving both brothers; Francis left his bureau key in the lock again.
Kitty HamiltonMrs Oakley says I may watch the guests arrive after the upstairs rooms are ready.
Choose
Joe, return the key to Francis before another servant is blamed for finding it.
Kitty, stay with your mother; I will inspect the upper rooms once more.