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great sunflower-colored dress and said to the servant, “Of course not. I shall greet them in the parlor.”
    I walked out to the parlor and saw my dear Eric, whom I had met an evening earlier at the Governor’s ball.
    “Ah, Mister Marwick, so good to see you again. And Aurora, a pleasure as always. Have the two of you met?”
    Eric spoke. “Yes, rather recently.” He smiled at me and then turned his smile to Aurora. “We met just outside your door, as we were about to enter.”
    “Oh, how lovely,” I replied, feeling quite the opposite. “Would you like some tea?”
    “I’m afraid I have not the time. I must return to London immediately. You left this at the Governor’s mansion last night. I had hoped to return it.” He held my handkerchief out to me, a soft white cloth with an intricate border and my initials on the lower corner. “I’m afraid you must have dropped it when I asked you to dance.”
    “So kind of you to bring it all the way here. I know you are a busy man, Mister Marwick,” I thanked him, blushing.
    “It was no trouble. I am afraid I must be on my way. It was lovely to see you again, Miss Whitenburg. And it was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Bacster,” he said as he bowed graciously.
    “Please, M ister Marwick, call me Aurora.”

     
    CHAPTER 4
    A NEW BEGINNING
     
    I placed the book I was holding back onto the old metal shelf and picked up The French Lieutenant’s Woman, looking the cover over. No sooner was it in my hand than Eric called my name, breaking the silence.
    “What do you want?” I demanded, so angry that I almost ripped the book. All that came from my lips was fury and bitter hate. When he said nothing, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. His expression was so strong that I had to turn and face him to be sure of what I saw.
    I was amazed. His expression was of pure shock. His mouth hung open, eyebrows down and furrowed. His eyes were wide as he stared at my face. I don’t know if he was aware of what he was doing. He was actually moving his head back and took a half step backwards, toward the doors to the stairwell. “Cassandra…?” he whispered.
    “What is it?!” I spat the words at him. I didn’t want to be near him another second.
    He breathed in sharply and clenched his jaw. “What’s wrong with you?”
    Now he was mad?! What reason did he have to be mad?!
    “Nothing’s wrong with me, okay? I am perfectly fine! To be honest, I’d like to know what’s wrong with you. What are you, following me?”
    “Aurora wanted to see you. She asked me to look here. I’m not your stalker.”
    “Well, you can tell Aurora to go away and leave me alone.”
    “Fine then. It’s what she’s doing anyway,” he said as he stormed through the stairwell door. I followed him quickly down the steps but not out of curiosity about what he said. There hadn’t been enough time for that to sink through my rage. I wanted to yell at him, slap him, teach him not to make a joke out of me ever again.
    “Eric, you can be such a jerk. You lied to me!” I yelled, my voice echoing loudly. He halted suddenly on the landing and I stopped short, almost running into him.
    “Yeah, I figured it out. You never needed my help, you jerk! You and Aurora just wanted to play a freaking trick on me to hurt my feelings,” I yelled to his back. I was so mad. I had been betrayed by the two people I thought I could trust. “Well I will never forgive you for it. Never. You and Aurora tricked me into waiting outside by myself for an hour, like an idiot! Happy? Happy now?!”
    He turned around to face me, the stairs making me stand at eye level with him, and I saw pity in his eyes. Real, true pity.
    “Don’t look at me like that,” I said quietly as I lowered my gaze. I stepped down onto the landing beside him and turned to look out the old window that lit the narrow stairwell.
    “Sandra…”
    I inched closer to the window, pressing against the dark wood frame. I felt like I might cry. His