“It’s a mess, I know. With all that traffic outside, the horses and carriages, the dust seeps in everywhere. But pay it no mind. We’ll get you settled in, darlin’,” Hazel said, “and then, after you rest a bit, we’ll have tea.”

I remembered that tea meant dinner for Hazel.

She turned to Great-aunt Nettie. “Then Corrine will tell us all about the family back in Alexandria,” she added much louder for Great-aunt Nettie. “Won’t that be nice, Nettie? You remember Alexandria, don’t you?”

“Oh yes,” Great-aunt Nettie said. “I had a sister who lived there. I think she died,” she added. Her uncertainty about the death of her own sister, my grandmother, and the casual way she said it was quite surprising. I looked at Hazel.

“We forget what we don’t want to remember first,” she repeated. “Here, let’s go up to the guest room. I put our best comforter on the bed, and I’m sure you want to unpack your things.”

“Thank you, Hazel.”

I won’t last here two days if Garland doesn’t appear, I thought as I followed Hazel up the rickety steps. The thick walnut balustrade rocked a little, advising me not to put my weight on it. I looked back at Great-aunt Nettie, who stood watching us as if she had already forgotten who I was and why I was going up her stairway.

Thankfully, Hazel had opened the window in the guest room, so there was at least some fresh air to chase away the odor of a room long shut up and unused, but there was all that dust swirling around just outside. The bed was half the size of mine, and the old wood floor was bare, with not even a rug to step down on in the morning.

“You remember that there’s only the loo downstairs,” Hazel said.

“Loo? Oh, bathroom. Right.”

“You can’t depend on the hot water for the bath all the time,” Hazel warned. “Best to take yours in the mornin’. The piping is a bit old now. We’ve had some troubles with the burner. A good handyman named George Thomas helps out from time to time.”

“Oh,” I said. “I was hoping for a soak before tea. Travel and all. When you get off the train, you feel like you’ve been riding through a chimney.”

I was really thinking, dreaming maybe, that Garland would show up, and I wanted to look the best I could after my journey.

“Well, you can try it. I can put up a few kettles in case,” she said. “The drawers in that old armoire stick a bit now and then. Just give ’em a good tug. They haven’t been opened for years.”

She smiled.

“Don’t worry about breakin’ anything, darlin’. Most everythin’s broke one way or another in this tired old house, includin’ us. Best to think of a visit like this as a travel experience. Like going to Africa or somethin’.”

She laughed. When she smiled, I saw how many of her back teeth were gone.