“Yes. He came to see me late yesterday, and we talked in the living room. It was embarrassing to bring anyone in there, much less a man as wealthy as he is who lives in what’s practically a castle.”

“So you went to his home?”

“No,” I said, probably too quickly. “He promised to come by at noon today to take me there and give me a tour, but he sent a messenger instead to say he was called away on business and wouldn’t see me while I was at Great-aunt Nettie’s. He wrote that maybe he could do that some other time,” I added, not hiding my bitterness. At least, this part was true.

“Is that all of it?”

“Yes,” I said.

I wasn’t fond of lying to my father, but I couldn’t tell him about the night before. I certainly couldn’t tell my mother. I had no one to tell, no one to confide in who would sympathize. I wouldn’t even tell Daisy, who would be shocked and worried that if something like this could happen to me, what would happen to her? Any of my other girlfriends would luxuriate in my discomfort. I knew how jealous of me they were and how happy they would be learning I had been seduced. Drugged was more the way I saw it. Drinking all that limoncello was as damaging as smoking opium, not that I had ever done that. I had just read about it and heard stories about young girls who were sexually assaulted in those dens of sin. How was it any different for me? Where had I been if not in a den of sin that just happened to be located in a great family mansion?

My father glanced at me and then looked forward, silent all the rest of the way home. I couldn’t remember a time when I felt more miserable. As I anticipated, my mother practically pounced when I walked in the door. She came flying out of the living room, ready to pin some crime on my chest.

“Well? What did you do to upset my aunt?”

“What? I didn’t do anything to upset her. Who said that?”

“No one has to say it, Corrine. You were so determined to visit her and made light of any of my warnings about her condition, Hazel’s, and her home. So what happened if they didn’t ask you to leave after spending only one night? Did you make fun of them, criticize them, mock the condition of the house, and make them feel terrible?”

My father stood behind me, waiting to see what I would say to her.

I put down my bag and started to cry. He didn’t come over to hug me or save me from my mother’s burning glare, however, so I took a deep breath and wailed through my words, hopefully putting on the most convincing act I could.