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Pearl's skin seemed to pale right before Eugenia's eyes. "You don't mean that we will have to mix with the likes of them?"
"And how do you separate yourself from them?" Eugenia said firmly. "They're of female gender. Just as yourself. I see no difference. Except in the coloring."
"You're disgusting," Pearl hissed, walkingaway from Eugenia.
If it had been any other time, Eugenia would have quickly reprimanded one of her girls for such an outburst. But she didn't want anymore sadness than was already present in the house. She just walked to the window and watched the last of the parade as it moved down the street. Then her eyes went to the mountain. The evening sunset was reflecting orange onto the foggy mist, resembling the spray from an orange being peeled. It was so beautiful, she could almost taste it.
Then suddenly, there was another knock on the door. Eugenia turned and checked the clock on the mantle over the fireplace. It was too early for the men to start arriving. She couldn't imagine who it might be. It couldn't be the doctor. She hadn't had the chance to call him yet.
"Want me to go to the door for you, Madam Eugenia?" Laura asked, already heading toward it.
Eugenia smiled warmly. "No, dear," she said. "You get on with the fun. I'll take care of it." She walked into the foyer and prepared herself for the cold blast of winter air as she pulled the door open. She stepped back, shocked, not at all prepared for whom she found standing there with his black suit against the backdrop of white snow spread all around him.
"What do you want?" Eugenia asked, quite aware of the trembling of her voice.
"It's Christmas Eve, Eugenia," Frederick said, taking his hat from his head, bowing deeply. "I've brought you a gift," he added, his eyes searching her face as he pulled a small wrapped box from the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
"I don't want any gifts from you, Frederick," Eugenia said cooly. "Now or ever. Will you please just leave me alone?"
"I must talk with you," Frederick pleaded, his face reddening. Eugenia didn't know if it was from impatience or embarrassment for not having been invited inside, knowing that many people walking away from the parade area might see him standing there at The Old Homestead Parlour. But Eugenia wasn't going to budge. She pitied him, but was still afraid of him.
"There's nothing you have to say to me that's of any importance to me, Frederick," she said, starting to shut the door, but she was stopped by the firm grip of Frederick's hand on the doorknob, pushing against it.
"Clarissa is with me no longer," Frederick said hurriedly. "Won't that make a difference to you, Eugenia?"
"What did you say?" Eugenia said, almost in a whisper, feeling her heart begin to thump nervously. Had she heard right? Had he said that Clarissa was no longer with him?
"I need to talk to you, to tell you what I've done about Clarissa and her lies to you."
"Lies… to me?"
"Yes. Please. Let me enter long enough to give you your gift, and long enough to explain much you need to know. You owe me that much Fräulein Eugenia. You know, I, personally, never gave you just cause to hate me."
"Oh, all right," Eugenia murmured, knowing that he was right. He had only tried to help her become a lady, which in the end she had become. Yes. She had him to thank for that. She could give him a few minutes of her Christmas Eve. She could remember how alone he always seemed while living with him. And now? Clarissa even gone? She held the door open widely, shivering with the coldness passing over her as he pulled the breeze in behind him.
He stood with his cane tapping nervously on the floor, his eyes searching around him.
"Let's go into the dining room where we can have privacy," she said, lifting her skirt, hurrying away from the gaiety radiating from the parlor. She stepped aside and let him enter first, then looked quickly around her to see if they had been observed by any of the other girls. She wanted to get this over with. Alone. Without any interference from anyone. She shut the door behind her and stepped on into the room. "And now, what have you to tell me?" she asked, clasping her hands together behind her, hoping to stop the trembling of her fingers. He looked so large, so threatening to her finally found peace of mind.
"First. The gift," he said hoarsely, handing it in the direction of Eugenia.
She shook her head. "No. I really don't want anything from you, Frederick," she said. "I already told you that. I'm willing to hear what you say. But I don't want your gift."
Her eyes widened as his pudgy fingers began to work with the blight red bow wrapped around a small, gold-colored Christmas-wrapping papered box. The red ribbon fell to the floor as he tore the paper aside. And as he lifted the lid on a white box, Eugenia gasped with astonishment. It was a diamond brooch, sparkling even more brightly than the crystal chandelier hanging above her.
"Why, it's beautiful," she sighed, wanting to accept it, remembering the day that she had admired the diamonds in the store window and knew that some day she would own such beautiful jewelry.
"It would look beautiful on your green dress. May I?" he asked, stepping c loser to Eugenia.
Eugenia swallowed hard, hating to refuse. But she had to. "No, I think not," she said, then hurried away, to stare out the back window. Even the house in back occupied by the colored girls was decorated at the windows in the bright greens and reds of different-shaped ornaments hung on strings stretched across each window. She could even see a few Christmas tree lights twinkling from farther in the room.
"You said something about Clarissa?" she said quietly. She could feel his presence behind her. She knew that all she had to do to find him would be turn. There he would be, his brow dripping perspiration, and his white ruffled shirt showing from beneath his black suit, and his pudgy fingers still offering a gift so beautiful it had almost taken her breath away.
"I've made Clarissa leave," he said. "I forced her to admit many things to me."
"Like what?" Eugenia said, feeling a numbness surging through her. But she continued to stare out the window, not wanting to watch his expressions change as he talked.
"She told me of the girls whom she had shackled in the tower room," he said, wheezing, as he grew more excited. "I had no idea she was using that room in such a manner. And she told me that she told you that I shared in such madness. Well, with God as my judge and witness, Eugenia, I did not. You must believe me."
