Gentlemen... and ladies.

Lucy blushed, taken by surprise, took her hand off the handle of the compartment door. "Miss Cook," she told Chop-chop. "To be frank, no one has ever asked me." She looked at the redoubtable Carlotta Cook. "I would have to think about it." Plunging forward, she admitted. "Gentlemen have given me much pleasure..."

Chop-chop raised an eyebrow. "Gentlemen? Or one gentleman?" she said. She looked like she was about to spit.

Lucy looked out the train window at the green-gray countryside rushing by, then back to Chop-chop. "A gentleman," she corrected herself, "has given me much pleasure in the way that a man knows a woman. But little respect and less voice. In some ways Annie has been his greatest gift. I know...I know I could find pleasure with a man. But I never want to be a man's servant, not any more."

"There you go, Miss Lucy," Chop-chop said. "Ladies now?"

"Ladies...? I... I was honored and privileged to serve Lady Catherine and her Sapphic friends so intimately. It was...holy to see great ladies taking their pleasure in each other. Faces transported, seeing angels. Worshipping each others' parts. I saw beauty there. I touched beauty and joy. But again I was a servant. Sometimes they would...throw me a bone, I suppose," Lucy said. "Lady Catherine only kissed my cheek. Never my lips." She looked in Carlotta's eyes. "Nor my parts."

Carlotta tilted her chin up slightly, made a little clucking sound and moistened her lips. Lucy embraced the tough old cook and kissed her on the lips. Carlotta responded warmly, kissing back. They held each other for a long minute, lips to lips, until Lucy pushed herself back.

Lucy looked Carlotta full in her broad face. "Oh Cook," she said. "I...I don't know."

Chop-chop smiled. "You don't have to know, Miss Lucy," she said. She shook her head. "You're the mistress of the house now. It's your privilege to change your mind." She lowered her voice. "And you kiss better than Lady Catherine ever did."

Lucy felt moist between her legs. She swayed unsteadily as the train carriage rumbled and rocked under her feet.