Miss Harker experiences a rude awakening

Jane Harker slept better that night than she had in ages. So good in fact that it seemed a darn shame when halfway after midnight, someone grabbed her shoulder and shook her awake.

As Jane reluctantly opened her sleep-encrusted eyes, she saw a pale-faced woman with dark brown hair sitting at the foot of her bed. The woman was looking at her in a strange way which reminded Jane of the way some of her more gluttonous friends in school would look at an unexpected dessert. But that could not be right, could it?

"Wakey-wakey, eggs and backey," said the woman as she adjusted the shoulder straps on her red nightgown. "Time to get up, my dear."

"Who are you and what are you doing on my bed?" asked Jane.

"My name is Barbara and you would be surprised how many beds I've been on," said the strange woman. "It's almost like a habit. A bad habit, true, but then those are my favorite kind."

"Well, you really shouldn't be in here," said Jane. "I prefer to sleep alone."

"But you are alone," said the woman who called herself Barbara. "It's just you and me in here -- plus my two friends."

"Two friends?" asked Jane.

As she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, Jane noticed that Barbara had two women standing behind her. One was a short brunette in a black dress. Next to her stood a slightly taller thin blonde in a white dress.

"Who are they?" asked Jane.

"The raven-haired one is Winona," said Barbara. "She's from America -- and she's quite a cunning linguist. The other one is Sarah -- and she's from America too. She's not so good with tongues but she makes up for it with other -- ahem -- talents."

"Why are you all here?" asked Jane.

"It's a tradition," said Barbara. "The Count wishes us to initiate every female guest who comes here into the wonderful world of **** nudity. He used to wait for volunteers but since your Queen Victoria took power over there in England, that's kinda taken the fun out of doing that."

"**** nudity?" asked Jane. "What's that?"

"A process by which me and my fellow sisters under the skin take away all those fussy old garments that have become the fashion for so many women nowadays and replace them with something that is far easier to carry -- and of course, less obstructive to the human eye," said Barbara.

"Well, that sounds like fun," said Jane. "So where this female guest's at that you're going to do all that to?"

At this point, Barbara frowned. "Er -- my dear -- you're our only female guest."

"That's nice," said Jane. "But if that's true, where's the poor woman you three are going to strip?"

"I would think that the answer to that question would be obvious," said Barbara.

"Is she sleeping across the hall in the other bedroom?" asked Jane. "Because I can imagine someone doing that."

"You don't understand," said Barbara. "You're our only guest, period."

"Period?" asked Jane. "I'm not on my period. It's way too early in the month for that."

"No, I mean -- oh, forget it," said Barbara. "I might as well stop talking and show you."

"Show me what?" asked Jane. "Where this mystery female guest is? Because I'd really like to see her."

Barbara sighed while Winona just smiled and Sarah said, "Something tells me we're going to enjoy this even more than usual."