“You were right. I should have listened to you. It was worse than you described. The guest bedroom was more disgusting than . . . than a woodshed. There were spiders and cobwebs and mouse droppings. I couldn’t bathe because they were having trouble with their burners, and my great-aunt . . .”

“What?”

“She doesn’t know where she is. Without Hazel, she would starve or wander off and die in a ditch,” I added. “It wasn’t any sort of holiday for me. I was afraid to breathe. The room I was in probably hadn’t been used for years and years. I opened the window, but I couldn’t get rid of the smells, and all the dust from the street came flowing in. I think maybe something died in that room recently,” I added. “How would they know? Why didn’t I listen to you? I promise, though, I didn’t say anything about any of that. I think Hazel assumed I was just bored. I’m not used to old people.”

She looked satisfied, especially since she was being proven right. She took a deep breath and nodded. Now she was feeling sorry for me.

“I told your father not to let you go, but no one listens to me in this house. Go give yourself a nice bath and rest,” she said. It felt like any moment she was going to bless me like the pope because I had confessed.

I picked up my bag and started for the stairway.

“You can leave your clothes to be washed. Bugs could have crawled into that bag and will escape into this house.”

“Oh no, I don’t think . . .”

She put her hands on her hips. “Harrington?”

“Do as your mother asks, Corrine. I’m going to see to the horses.”

It was difficult to look at him, because I could see he knew I was holding something back from him as well. Who knew me better than he did? I nodded and dropped the bag.

“Have you eaten anything?” my mother asked.

“Very little.”

“Then maybe you should come down after your bath and have something before you go to sleep. Wash your hair,” she added. “Bed bugs can burrow into your head.”

I wasn’t thinking of all this, but now that she had brought it up, I felt even sicker. I had passed out last night. Anything could have crawled through my hair without my having realized it. Wash my hair I would, and vigorously, too.