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Show CHAPTER THIRTEEN Elise walked up the once famliar stairs to the well varnished golden oak door. She picked up the heavy brass knocker and rapped three times. She didn't know what or who to expect, but the swelling joy of being home was tempered by an intense desire to turn and run. As was to be expected, a butler answered, but it was not the butler Elise remembered from so many years ago. When he asked for her wraps, she said she didn't think she'd be staying long and she would keep them with her. Left alone in the parlor, Elise stood in the center of the room, turning slowly to survey the old and the new surroundings. The heavy velvet drapes she remembered had been replaced by golden tapestry that complimented the paintings and wall hangings. There were the brass "candlesticks and the ancient soapstone carvings from the Orient that her mother had so loved. In so many respects, it was still the family home. But who lived here? Her parents, she knew, had died more than ten years previous and when she had returned to visit her only brother, she learned, he had been killed in a hunting accident. At the sound of the door opening, Elise took a deep breath and held her head high to meet whoever came through the door. "Elise Wentworth?" the head of the stranger was |