"The Little Mirror"
Edna was walking home after a visit with Mademoiselle Reisz. She passed a curio shop she had never paid any attention too. There, in the display window, she saw him. His hair. His shape. It was Robert. He was back. She let out a quiet gasp. As she blinked back tears of an unidentifiable emotion, the man turned. The face was wrong. Too long, too pale. She stood still as the numbness returned, cooling the boiling sea that had been bursting in her heart. It was just a young clerk. The boy did not notice her as he continued arranging the display.
Edna went inside the shop. It was not different from any other curio shop in New Orleans, yet it touched the secret part inside of her that was first reached by Robert at Grand Isle. The small entry split in two directions; she chose the right one. She browsed the various items for a few minutes before, finding a small, silver hand mirror with an engraving of a large cat prowling through the jungle. Wild vines twined down the handle and crept at the edges of the glass. What a curious thing!
Edna turned it over to look at herself. The woman she saw was not her. This woman was stunning. Her light dress had a scandalously low-cut décolletage instead of a clutching collar. Her long hair was not tied tight with ribbons but instead hung freely over her shoulders. Her eyes were warm, and her smile was broad. She was happy. Edna dropped the mirror, socked. It landed on its face, and the glass shattered. When she bent down to pick up the pieces, she noticed something in the cat's eyes. She immediately recognized it as a look of desperation.