Giselle slowly let her breath out in a sigh. “But, I’ll still be hunted. I was the last person with him.”

“I can tell you he was so little regarded that I rather doubt any of his men were bothering about looking in on him last night. More likely he wasn’t discovered until his orderly found the door was locked this morning.” The old woman drank her tea thoughtfully. “But you are right. You will be hunted. Or rather, Gunther will be hunted. No one will be looking for Giselle.” She put down her empty cup with a decisive gesture. “You will stay with me until your hair grows out more. While you are staying here, we will think about what you are to do next.”

“But . . . I don’t have anything to wear but men’s clothing!” she protested weakly.

Tante Gretchen rolled her eyes. “That is scarcely a problem.” She got up, and went to a clothes press under the mattress of her cupboard bed. She brought out hunting gear, but this was of much finer make than what Giselle was wearing, and it had clearly been tailored for a woman, with fine, subtle embroidery around each of the four pocket slits in the jacket. And instead of breeches, there was a divided skirt, which some women wore to ride astride. “That was mine as a girl your age, and I’ll never fit into it again, so there is no point in my keeping it,” the old Master said, laying the jacket, vest, and skirt out on the cot and stroking the wool once with a reminiscent hand. “No, you shall have it. And you are welcome to it.”

Giselle hardly knew what to say. She was still feeling exhausted, and more than a bit befuddled, and she certainly did not like the feeling that she was being hunted—and this, clearly, was a safe haven. She stammered her thanks, but the old woman waved them off, going to the cupboard again and pulling out an old nightdress of the same size, yellowed with age, but still fine. “First, your wrists need proper bandaging. Then you can move the cot and bedding up to the loft so I have my hearth back. I am not risking a fall at my age, not to mention I don’t think I could get the bedding up there myself, much less the cot! Then you can get out of that clothing and into this. And last, you can go back to bed. Then we’ll talk about what you can do to repay me.”