Chapter 1: August the Ninth. One to Two O’Clock A.m

⁠​​​‌​​​​​​​​‌‌‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​​​​‌​‌​​​⁠Cytherea entered her bedroom, and flung herself on the bed, bewildered by a whirl of thought. Only one subject was clear in her mind, and it was that, in spite of family discoveries, that day was to be the first and last of her experience as a lady’s-maid. Starvation itself should not compel her to hold such a humiliating post for another instant. ‘Ah,’ she thought, with a sigh, at the martyrdom o