A woman, actually. She crouched on the long ledge outside the window, perilously close to the edge. She could feel her heart beating, like it was about to burst out of her chest. That was a moment of pure desperation. She had struggled to keep the fear out of her voice and just about succeeded but she couldn't get away with that again. She had given herself away. She must get back to the party, her absence could be noticed. Feeling for the piping near the window, she grasped it and steadied herself.

Shinning down and running back to her room was the easy part. The trouble was coming back again and looking calm and unruffled, the way a lady should be.

She looked at herself in the mirror, face flushed, hair in disarray. Time to put the mask back on. Hastily stripping off the trousers and soft black boots and discarding them under the bed, she took the small bag of jewellery from under her shirt where it had lain all this time. Hid it under the bottom drawer of her dresser. She didn't look at them, they weren't hers to gaze over. She took a deep breath and started to compose herself, dressing once more to step down to the party.