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complacency and demands improvements that serve the greater good.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œShall I tell you what I asked of the cards?”
    â€œOnly if you wish to do so.” I was torn between wanting to know and being terrified to hear her thoughts.
    â€œI asked what your arrival meant.” Honoria smiled at me and I felt my worry ease a bit. “The cards told me nothing surprising. They also did not reveal how you came to be here.”
    I thought again of the hours on the train I had passed, carefully considering which aspects of my story I thought best to mention to my aunt. Despite my vow to go straight I’d been contemplating snipping and stitching the truth to cast Father as the victim of the accident that ended Johnny’s life. It might make Honoria more inclined to welcome me if she believed I had no other family. As I opened my mouth to apply that bit of embroidery to the facts, I once more heard the voice speak with breathtaking clarity in my ear.
    â€œSpeak only truth, however conservatively.”
    I had always worried the voice was a sign I would end up in an asylum. It occurred to me that perhaps the events of late had driven me mad. Or maybe the blow to my head when I fell had caused some sort of damage to my brain. Only insane people heard voices so frequently and with such clarity. Then my gaze swept over the High Priestess card, the one that spoke of intuition and the inner voice. Bearing it in mind I took a deep breath and took a chance on the truth. Or at least a tidy version of it.
    â€œMy father and I argued bitterly. I decided enough was enough and that I would take the chance that you would be here and would be glad to see me.”
    â€œJust like that? Without planning of any kind?”
    â€œI know it sounds rash and I don’t wish to sound disloyal, but my father can be quite unreasonable as well as unreliable.” I decided to gamble that she would be favorably swayed by a sob story. “This argument, like so many others, ended in violence. When I left, my only thought was for my safety.” While strictly speaking that was the truth, I felt a twinge of guilt at the way I had presented it.
    â€œHe was heedless and impulsive when I knew him. I am sorryto hear that with age his faults include a tendency to violence. Not that I am at all surprised.” Honoria reached over and patted my hand. The sparkling stones set into the many rings decorating her thick fingers sent flashes of colored light jouncing against the creamy striped wallpaper. “I’ve always said your place was here with me. That’s just what I wrote to Ivory when he let me know my sister had passed on.”
    â€œYou offered to take me?” This was news to me.
    â€œCertainly, I did.” Honoria dabbed at her eyes with a ruffled handkerchief. “Of course I knew Delphinia was expecting your arrival. She wrote to me several times after she left home. When her letters stopped and I began to dream of her instead, I knew she was gone.”
    â€œI never knew anything about my mother other than her name and what she looked like from the photograph you sent her.” I reached into my purse once more and offered her the same envelope I had shown Officer Yancey. She removed the picture and stared at it silently for some time, tears cascading down her cheeks.
    â€œOh, my dear girl. I knew I should have persisted unrelentingly until Ivory gave you into my care. I offered to take you as soon as he contacted me about Delphinia’s passing but he refused. He said you were his daughter and he would raise you himself.” Two bright spots pinked Honoria’s cheeks. It appeared little love was lost between my aunt and father.
    I felt a lump forming in my throat. I told myself it was just the strain of recent hours causing me to weaken. I pride myself on not falling prey to sentimental foolishness.
    â€œThat was very kind of you.”
    â€œNonsense. I wanted you