I had pancakes for lunch, not breakfast today. Normally you eat them in the morning time, I told my dolls - their name is Alice too, except they aren't me - but I wanted them instead of sandwiches. That's part of being an adult, deciding things for yourself. My dolls laugh at me, when I say that, but I don't care. I like pancakes.

The whole place is very quiet for a very long time, after that, because Hermia is having lunch with her friend, the woman Glass who came from the Big Man but belongs to the butcher from down the street. Valmont's sleeping, for what seems like forever, and when I finally hear him up and moving around, down the stairs and to the front, I put away my dolls and follow.

I don't go to the desk, not at first, because I want to surprise him and there's work in that. I already did the cooking, great big cookies made with oatmeal and raisins just like Cookie showed me, so then it's just putting them on a plate to look as nice as can be and a big glass filled up with milk. I would make coffee, like is his favorite from when he stayed with the duchess, but I don't know how.

Even before I'm halfway down the hall, though, there are voices. Hmm.

"Is something burning?" I ask, peeking my head 'round the corner with the milk and cookies still in hand. I don't see anything burning, but that doesn't mean it's not there.