When she was done, she stood there with a towel in her hands, quickly wrapping it around my shoulders. Even before I could think of it, she was drying me. As she knelt to dry my rear and reached in and between my thighs, I felt a part of me wanted her to stop. It made me feel ridiculous to be treated like real royalty, but another, stronger part of me settled back to enjoy it. I think I even moaned. My eyes were closed.

“You are very beautiful, ma’am,” she suddenly said, when she was on her knees wiping my legs and looking up at me.

“Thank you,” I said. I had never been good at saying that so it sounded like I meant it and had not expected it, but the appreciation I heard in her voice touched me.

She began to attend to my underthings, dressing me. I might as well be a storefront mannequin, I thought. So this was what Garland meant when he said she was good at looking after the needs of a young woman. I wondered for a moment if that grew out of her having to care for her mother, who was probably incapable of dressing herself at one point. I didn’t want to think that; it made her seem more like a nurse than a servant. Would she tell me more about her past? I wondered how truthful she would be, how revealing. Were we far from trusting each other? How long would it take?

“You’ve attended to other women guests here at Foxworth since October, haven’t you?” I asked.

For a moment, she looked like she was going to choke on the answer.

“It’s all right,” I said. “I’m quite aware of the fact that I’m not Mr. Garland’s first woman friend.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

I thought about it for a moment. “Were any of them permitted to sleep in the Swan Room?”

Her whole body seemed to freeze.

“Don’t be surprised I know about it. Surely you’re aware that I was here at Foxworth.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Mr. Foxworth showed me the Swan Room. Haven’t you seen it?”

She shook her head. I thought she would start trembling and run out.

“But you know about it?”

“Yes, ma’am. My aunt told me. She had to prepare it after . . . I mean . . .”

I quickly smiled. “That’s quite all right, Dora. It’s nice for me to know that Mr. Foxworth shows that room only to someone for whom he has some regard. Maybe after the wedding, I’ll show it to you myself. I might even sleep in it occasionally, since no one else ever will.”

She nodded, looking grateful and astonished.

“Let’s go finish my preparations for dinner,” I said.