For just ajar was all the hinges creaked."Wh-who is it?" she stammered from beyond the dark crack."Aunt B-Betsy?" Jack? Is that really you? I thought ...ou were off at sea. How long have you been in town?"Now Betsy opened the door all the way and admitted her stunned nephew. And finding her there instead of Millie wasn't the only reason for Jack's breathlessness. For his aunt wore nothing more than a damp towel."I was in the shower," Betsy explained. "Hope you don't mind the way I look." Y-you. But without a word of grace or gratitude, well, it begins to stick in the craw."Lucy couldn't hold back a laugh. "Bless you, Jack," she said.Jack patted a thick pouch in his vest. "Bless you, Lucy," he said. "I hope the old lord and lady settled a nice little sum on you. You've been in service with the Netherwoods, well..." All my life," Lucy said.A rumbling of iron wheels, accompanied by rhythmic hisses of steam, came down the street."My tram," Jack said."Fare thee well," Lucy wished. "Hope. No under wear.There was water on the floor and I fixed the leak.My neighbor was sitting on the kitchen chair like 3 feet from me working under the sink.I could see her from under the sink and if I didn't know any better I would swear she was checking out my crouch.When I finished I sat talking to her just like I always do.She said she needed to pay me back for all the things I do for her. She always gives me food and other stuff so that was pay back as far as I was concerned."No, she said,"you. She said that in that kind of crowd you don't dance to the music. That she knew that this guy was trying to hump her. She turned her head -- the only thing that she could turn, she said -- and saw a skinny guy with a shaved head and earrings behind her. She said that he looked to be two or three years older than her, maybe in his late 30sShe said that there was nowhere for her to go and that she felt the guy's penis, which was apparently pressed against one of her butt cheeks, become erect. She.