Nisa had called her murderous intent for the moment. Her new maid was polite and great at her job, and no one had maliciously crossed her path. So she was in good humor at the embroidering club. The atmosphere was cool in temperament though she occasionally felt the passive aggression so thick it crawled along her skin like bugs. She didn't say anything though and blocked it out, but she remembered their faces, just in case.

When she returned to the main room, she was walking with a few women. Helen from a boarding house in town had come with a couple of her girls, including one named Nettie that she had started to talk to. It seemed they both has male relatives close in their lives and either no parents or little to speak of.

She paused at the door frame when she noticed him, not only in an unrespectable seat, but strewn out like he was the next coming of Dionysus. She flattened her lips and cleared her throat. "Brother, how good to... see you." He usually was not around but he knew how to act in company. Something was strange.