"Someone is here to see you Miss Sisse." The butler announced as entering the sitting room. The room had once been her mother's domain but slowly Sisse had taken it over. Today she almost wished she had sought refuge in her room instead. But with Matthew and her father at work and Henry out of the house she was entirely alone and someone had to be able to receive guests even if it felt as if the world had just ended. Sisse nodded mutely. She had no idea how she'd manage to get through a visit with anyone, but she couldn't let herself shatter only to have to try and hold herself again when someone showed up so she supposed it was a good thing the caller had arrived now.

With a thick swallow, Sisse nodded at the man, not even bothering to ask the caller's name. Instead she waited until he'd left to show the visitor in and dashed a hand over her eyes in case any more tears were leaking. Mr. Hamston was too polite to mention any crying he might have heard or seen, but visitors weren't always as tactful as the staff.

The very last person Sisse had expected to see in her sitting room that afternoon was Lester. "Have you heard?" Her voice broke as she looked at him, feeling lost. She didn't, couldn't, be the one to break the news to him.

Lester Hatchitt