It was getting late. We ladies had adjourned to the lush parlor a few doors down the hall to array ourselves in general languor until the gentlemen arrived. I often wondered what went on behind the closed dining room door; I was fairly certain it couldn't be less interesting than what went on in here. All my attempts to learn whatever it was they did, though, had ended in defeat. My questions were either laughed at or ignored, and I'd been caught, scolded, and sent to bed directly the times I had tried to eavesdrop or get a peek through the good-sized gap between the dining room's closed double doors. They called me a nuisance, and I guess I was.

I was something of an embarrassment to them, I think.

Happiness.

We were estranged friends, happiness and I. There was nothing like regret at the end of our acquaintance on my side, though -- happiness was a mere precursor to disappointment, nothing more.

As I looked out...