Elizabeth was in her sitting room drowsily partaking of her morning tea (despite the fact it was half past noon) when a loud, sharp knocking began upon her front door. The sudden noise startled her to the point she spilt a drop or two of tea upon her lap, and when her hands started trembling she quickly set down her cup lest she spill more. The loud knocking resumed, and she felt as if a fit of panic were about to completely overtake her senses. It was a man’s knock, for surely no woman would ever be ribald enough to pound on someone’s door like that, and she had come to fear the sound of a man’s knock the way she had always feared gunfire…
    …and black motor cars. She also feared black motor cars parked in her drive. And the possibility that the loud...

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