In the Still of the Night

only was America in trouble, but the rest of the world was going to pot as well. In January German Chancellor Bruening declared that Germany would not resume its payments for war reparations. She found it frightening that Germany was getting haughty again. And later in the month there was an article about the Japanese attacking Shanghai and Manchuria. That wasn’t good news either. And in early February a man named Hitler became a Nazi candidate for President of Germany. Some people were encouraged by this, but most who followed international news more closely than she did, said he was a man to be feared.
    But in spite of the world situation, the work on Grace and Favor continued to be Lily’s main concern. The third floor plumbing was almost finished by the end of February and Lily and the housekeeper Mimi Smith were cleaning out the small rooms on the third floor that had been servants’ quarters in the past. One of them was unfinished and was full of old suitcases and trunks. The first trunk they opened turned out to be packed with old-fashioned women’s clothing, all carefully wrapped in tissue paper. It looked like the clothes of a young woman. Had it been Uncle Horatio’s Aunt Flora’s clothing? She would have been born in about 1850 or so and would have put up her hair and donned a corset as an adult just after the Civil War. Oddly, the clothing looked more modern than that, although Lily knew little of what girls wore that long ago.
    Another trunk had “grown-up“ clothing that was certainly Flora’s. Crinolines, horsehair hoops, high-necked dresses in modest, if not drab, colors. The sort of clothing Queen Victoria would have approved of. A third trunk contained costumes. At some point in the history of the mansion, there had been parties that called for guests dressing up as monks and Spanish pirates and famous queens.
    That probably wouldn’t be appropriate for the gathering they were planning, but later perhaps.
    If there were to be parties later. If this one didn’t work out and produce a profit, however small, she and Robert would have to take in boarders instead. And there probably wouldn’t be costume parties with boarders.
    The future suddenly loomed large, long and boring.

    “I’m going to the post office to send an invitation to Mad Henry,“ Robert said the next morning. “Want to come along?”
    Lily had to go to town to pick up some groceries that had been inadvertently left out of Mrs. Prinney’s order, and she was eager for any excuse to get away for a bit, so she took him up on the offer. Robert drove the Duesenberg, but refused to stay around. “I’ve got some other things to do as well,“ he said, trying to impart an air of mystery to himself. “I’ll pick you up in half an hour.“
    “It won’t take me that long. I just have to stop by the butcher shop.“
    “Then waste some time at the hardware store. It’s the best heated building in town,“ Robert said. “I’ll scoop you up in the Duesie there.”
    Robert dropped her off and went on his way. His errand, not as mysterious as he’d made it sound, was only to go to the Voorburg-on Hudson Times newspaper office for a gossip with Jack Summer, the young man who was the editor. The newspaper office was the second warmest building in Voorburg and Robert was curious about some new neighbors three houses along the upper road from Grace and Favor Cottage.
    Lily headed for the butcher shop and found that there was a sale of really pathetic pork chops that didn’t even look edible, but had drawn a crowd. Because she hated the cold, damp, dead animal smell of the shop, rather than wait in line she decided to make another visit and come back when the pork chops were gone.
    On one side of the town square, there was a millinery shop. Lily couldn’t afford any new hats, but she loved looking at them and trying them on. Those that were displayed in the front window were quite nice, if a bit dusty. But the displays inside the shop were lovely. A young woman came out from a workroom at the back of the shop. She was little and pretty with somewhat fuzzy strawberry blonde hair pulled into an old-fashioned Gibson Girl sort of hairdo.
    “Miss Brewster?“
    “How did you know me?“ Lily asked. “Somebody pointed you out at church once. I’m Phoebe Twinkle.“
    “Oh, the sign on the door of the stairway next door has your name on it for tailoring and alterations, doesn’t it?“
    “Yes, I do the hats down here and the