Anna turned up from her stitching, pulling the glasses from the end of her nose as something brushed against the floor of her shop. She hurried from the workroom to see the door still closed and a shadow moving away through the frosted glass. With a frown she bent to see two notes there. One, written in a hasty hand, chilled her to the bone.

Stay away if you know what's good for you.

She shivered, tucking the note away in a hurry, all but stuffing it into a lantern to burn it in a moment. Turning to the other note, she flicked the seal and a smile warmed her body before spreading over her face when she saw a ticket accompanied by a short script. Slipping the ticket away into her apron pocket, she turned the note to the light to read it better.

Might I have the pleasure of this dance?

Anna laughed and then hurried to tuck the note away with the ticket as the bell sounded and she had to jump out of the door's path. Mr. Green stood there, his face bearing only a sheepish smile, and holding out the same shirt as before. "I'm afraid I might be requiring your services."

"So soon?" Anna checked the second note and ticket were secure and out of sight in her pocket before taking the shirt. "I thought you planned ahead Mr. Green."

"I do but this is a different injury." He hurried to point it out to her but Anna already found it, stretching the fabric to investigate. "Your repairs held up more than admirably."

"They always do." Anna peeked at him, "Are you a dataller, Mr. Green?"

"A what?"

"A day wage man. A temporary repairman coming around looking for work and occupation?" Anna pulled up a bit of the shirt, "This smells like you were near burning and either you were making charcoal or helping repair a road."

"I might've signed myself cooking something over a fire."

"A fire?" Anna's skin prickled and she worried her voice gave her away.

"It's all we could find."

"Are you not very good with the skillet?" Anna pointed to the dark fabric, the marks of ash and the singed material standing out under her observations. "It would seem you got a bit too close to the fire."

"I'm not much of a cook and thought burning dinner would hide that fact from everyone else."

Anna smiled, taking the shirt over to her bench and searching through her scraps to try and match the shirt. "It's the curse of the unexpected expectations I think."

"The what?"

She found a piece of fabric that matched well enough and measured it slightly larger than the section of the shirt for repair. "Those things we'll be called on to do that we never expected we needed preparation to handle."

"Have experience with that yourself?"

"More than I'd like to admit." Anna dug around for thread, ducked behind the table and catching a look at Mr. Green's shoes. The edges of the leather bore signs of scuffing and burning, as well as stone dust she thought appeared too familiar. But she righted herself, holding up the thread and working it expertly through a needle to immediately fix his shirt. "And sometimes it doesn't matter how much we prepare. We're never fully ready for what might lie ahead of us."

"Do you feel prepared for what you do, Ms. Smith?"

"I've been mending and sowing since I was knee high to a farm gate, Mr. Green." Anna worked her fingers quickly and expertly through the materials to pull them together. "Though I'd suggest you find a good washer woman to get out the smell and the ash from this shirt."

"Are you such a woman?"

"No." Anna snorted, "I have been but I'm not now. The washing will also tighten the fabric and make the repair less obvious."

"You know your trade."

"I'd hope so since I make a living from it." Anna finished, "It'll be the same price as last time."

"Given you repaired it in front of me I'd expect nothing less." He handed over the money and when their fingers met Anna suppressed a shudder. "Until the next repair, Ms. Smith."

"Until then Mr. Green." Anna waited until he left the shop before locking the door. But as her hand reached for the lock someone's knuckles rapped on the glass. She opened it to smile again, wondering if the size of her smile was genuinely reflected back at her in John's face. "Fancy seeing you."

"I do hope you got my note."

"I did." Anna beckoned him inside and then locked the door, her face growing serious. "And it wasn't the only one."

"Someone else wants to go dancing with you?"

"Someone else wanted to warn me off what we're doing. More to it," Anna waved her hand back at the door. "The shirt I told you about, the one I noticed on that man at the wedding, it was back in here today."

"On him?"

"He needed some burned sections of it repaired." Anna shivered, pulling at her fingers. "I think he might've been behind that attack on the church last week."

"Did he leave the note?"

"I don't know." Anna nodded at her lantern. "I burned it because I didn't want it terrifying me."

"So we've got a new man in town trying to russle up trouble?" John sighed, a hand going through his hair. "It'd explain the increase in rumblings and complaints at the mine."

"Are they organizing?"

"Them organizing to give demands to management isn't the problem. I can communicate with anyone and if people are talking then there's hope. The problem is when people resort to violence to get what they want because then no one wins. It becomes about revenge, vengeance, and death until we're all talking to one another again like we should've in the first place."

"That's poetic."

"That's the truth." John shrugged, "But maybe a bit poetic."

"I don't think you give yourself enough credit, Mr. Bates." Anna looked him over, a grin stealing over her face, "You must read quite a bit."

"I've been known to devour a few books but if you're going to offer that I borrow some I'll have to refuse you on principle."

"And why is that?"

"Because they'll come back with the pages dotted in black dust and perhaps a few tears."

"Are you a sympathetic reader Mr. Bates?" Anna gathered a few things and moved toward the back of her shop, John following with steps more delicate than she considered possible for a man who stood so large above her.

"I weep rather consistently." He cringed, catching Anna's eye when she turned back to him from her workstation. "I do hope I haven't just unmanned myself in front of you."

"I'm sure I could find a kindred spirit in someone who occasionally dampens my pages with their honest tears." Anna shuddered, "Too many people don't read and not enough really delve into the plot."

"Should they?"

"It's a practice in empathy, Mr. Bates." Anna leaned back on the table, her fingers tracing a scrap of velvet. "There are lives lived, experiences had, and people loved that we'll never see in real life. Even if you could experience a fraction of the lives lived by those we pass by on a daily basis, we'd never find the depth and breadth we need to truly understand or comprehend their struggle. If we read it then we can."

"You believe reading expands the heart?"

"And enlightens the mind." Anna pulled a piece of fabric toward her and folded it as she drew her chair back out. "But I think it's a conversation for another time."

"Is now not a good time?"

"I'm sure you and I both have work we need to do." Anna winked at him, waving the ticket and the note at him before slipping them back into her pocket with fingers deft enough to sow in a straight line with tiny, precise stitches. "And I'll see you this evening."

"Might I request the pleasure of accompanying you there myself?"

"I'd be rather offended if you had someone else do it." Anna smiled and waved him toward the door. "I think you've other duties that require your attention and it's best if you get to them."

"I'll not delay your work any longer." John nodded at her, fingers worrying the edge of his hat. "I do hope it's all been well… with you, since the fire…"

"I wasn't even singed." Anna stopped, noting his face. "Are you alright?"

"It's just…" He took a tentative step forward and Anna put a hand out to cover his on his hat. "I worried for you. I worried for everyone but…"

"I understand." Anna stopped him, her fingers moving around his hand. "I worried for you more than I did for the others."

"With the note you received and the trouble with the miners I… I worry that perhaps you might be caught in the middle of all this if you continue to associate with me."

"You think someone might set fire to my shop or me because they see me with you?"

"It's possible. They've already passed you a message telling you not to and now I wonder if it was a mistake to involve you in this."

"Mr. Bates." Anna waited until his eyes met hers. "I couldn't feel more flattered than I do, right now, that you want to protect me. I've… I've never had anyone who wanted to do that for me and it's beautiful."

"I didn't-"

"However," Anna stopped his argument, putting a finger to his lips. They both froze, looking at the placement of her hand, and Anna quickly removed it. "However, I make my own decisions and I need you to respect the fact that you can't do this without me."

"And I've no desire to." His other hand took the one she clenched at her side. Now all of her fingers tingled the way the one that had touched his lips did. "But I would be remiss if I didn't warn of the dangers of throwing in with me."

"You make it sound like we're going to become bandits on the highway."

They both laughed for a moment but John grew somber again. "There are those who might take their business elsewhere. They'll call you names if they find out what you're doing to help me. It could become very dangerous."

"Mr. Bates," Anna shifted her hands in his grip so her fingers covered his palms and she could hold them tightly to her. "After everything I've been through in my life, after all the things you've endured in your own, might we just have this evening? Can't we just let that be enough?"

John nodded and raised his hands to lay a kiss on both of her hands at the knuckle. His thumbs ran over the dips from the bone and then he removed his fingers from her grip. "Then I'll be here at half past six."

"And I'll wear a dress for dancing." Anna walked him back to the front of the shop, nodding at the two women perusing the fabric options stacked along the walls. "I do hope you have a pleasant day Mr. Bates."

"And I hope the same for you Ms. Smith." John replaced his hat and left the shop with a tinkle of the bell.

Anna took a moment to fill her lungs, holding her breath until she was sure the brush of color to her cheeks dissipated. When it did she rounded on the women. "How might I help you ladies today?"

The remainder of the day was spent between her mending in the back, the large quilt someone commissioned, and occasionally selling fabric to those who came into the shop. Her fingers took on the indentations of the needle, the thimble, and the pencil as she took measurements, wrote out receipts, and then managed the payments. When her shop closed at six, Anna took the box with the earnings of the day and removed it from the front of the shop.

She locked the doors, drawing the curtains, and managed her lantern in one hand while the other held the box to the back room. There she pulled the edge of a rolling fabric rack to expose a wall with an inset safe. Setting the lantern on the table, she spun the dial to open the safe. Counting out the money for the day, a careful tally marking the sources and the possible outlying credit, Anna tucked it safely inside and replaced the ledger.

The heavy door closed and Anna spun the dial back before replacing the rack. After a moment it appeared as nothing more than the wall and Anna pulled open the door to the tight stairs that led to the second level of the shop. These she ascended to find her small kitchen, sitting room, and the bedroom waiting for her. Even in the growing dark there was no menace here, just a feeling of swaddled comfort Anna enjoyed as she lit the candles and used the lights from the lamps outside to help her navigate the space.

In moments she recognized her options for dancing dresses where rather more limited than she imagined. However she finally found one, stuffed away at the back of the wardrobe, and removed it to allow the material to slide over her fingers. It shimmered in the light and part of Anna wondered if perhaps such a dress might be more fitting at another venue but when she caught sight of the time on the hanging clock she realized there was no time for another choice.

Swiftly transferring the ticket to a small handbag, and the note to the drawer beside her bed, Anna made herself presentable. The little face paint she did have struggled to apply evenly in the shadows of the room but Anna worked around it and hoped the darkness might hide the possible flaws. Her dress hung well, granting her a moment of self-indulgence to spin in the sight of her mirror, and she retrieved her shoes before piling her hair atop her head.

Once it hung in her preferred style she heard a knock at the door below. Anna scrambled for her things, blowing harder than she intended to extinguish the candles in her flat to leave heated wax to dry over the wooden surfaces. But when all was as dark as before, the candles all safely extinguished, she rushed to grab the lantern and manage her shoes one-handed. Saved from a tumble down the back stairs purely by providence, Anna reached the floor of her shop and stuffed her arms into her coat sleeves before opening the door.

There, dressed in his best Sunday suit, stood John. Anna clamped her mouth shut to keep her jaw from dropping to her chest, and set the lantern to the side with a weak hand. John's eyes, even in the darkness, sparkled and gleamed as he looked her over and Anna wondered why she bothered with a coat when his gaze alone could keep her warm for the evening.

"Shall we?"

Anna nodded, reaching out a hand to hold his. John paused, nodding at the lantern, and when Anna failed to blow it out three times John dipped forward. He licked two of his fingers and extinguished the light with a splutter of the tiny flame. His smile took over his face as he offered Anna his arm.

"Shall we?"

"You already said that." Anna managed, slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow and turning back only long enough to lock the door to her shop and tuck the key into the handbag.

"And you never gave me an answer."

"I assumed the fact that I stepped out the door with you would be enough."

"My mother taught me never to assume."

"Then your mother was a wiser woman than me." Anna stopped, halting their progress, and looked John right in the eye. "Yes, Mr. Bates, we shall."

"Then we shouldn't delay a moment longer."

They walked to the hall, music and light lifting their spirits before they even reached the door, and presented their tickets to the woman there. She waved them in before stuffing the tickets into a box. Anna edged nearer to John as they joined the crush of people working their way through the small foyer before reaching the interior of the building.

Here the music livened, calls and greetings mixing with loud conversation and laughter that ran the gambit from soft and flirtatious to heavy and bawdy. John helped Anna from her coat and handed it with his to the man checking them. When he turned to face her again Anna noted the drop in his jaw reflecting the one she barely contained at her doorstep. His Adam's apple bobbed slightly and Anna took his hand.

"Come now Mr. Bates. I'm sure you've seen a dress before."

"Not one that made me come over as insensible as this one." John reached out a finger, tracing it barely on the edge of a frill before pulling back. "I apologize. That was a liberty I shouldn't have taken."

"I promise you, Mr. Bates, there are not greater compliments to an artist as the appreciation of her work." She slipped her fingers over his hand. "Shall we dance?"

"I think it would destroy the purpose of the evening if we were to do otherwise." John led her to the floor, taking her into position as the band in the corner warned the beat of the next song. "Though I think that dress is far too fine for the venue of the evening."

"I thought so too but I mismanaged my time this afternoon and this was the result." They started to glide about the floor. "I thought suits such as yours were meant only for Sundays."

"They are, normally, but the only other fine thing I own was my military uniform and one shouldn't wear it when they're no longer in service. It's disrespectful."

"I can't say I know the etiquette one way or another for it." Anna admitted, measuring her steps as she tried to anticipate John's moves about the floor.

But his hand at her shoulder tightened slightly and forced her eyes to meet his. "Trust me, Ms. Smith, and I promise to neither step on your toes nor led you astray."

"I'm sorry." Anna let her body relax, but only just, in his hold. "It's been some time since I've been dancing and I might be a tad nervous."

"It's been some time since I had a lady as lovely as yourself in my arms so I'm more than nervous."

"Were you not once married?" Anna risked and noted the crease in John's forehead. "I'm sorry, I've overstepped."

"Not at all." John shrugged, maneuvering them around another couple. "Since I engaged you for the evening you've a right to know the details of the man who could, perhaps, ruin your reputation."

"I doubt a man that Robert Crawley holds in such high esteem would be so careless."

"I could say the same of you."

Anna grinned, "I'm a very careful person."

"Are you?"

"Very." She paused, holding the beat of the music. "But not so careful that I haven't been tempted by those things one shouldn't want when they occupy the position of life I do."

John took his turn to pause, the red rising along his neck. "Have you?"

"A woman can be the bastion of desires that are… not wholly pure, Mr. Bates."

"Of that I've no doubt." He turned them again. "But in answer to your question, I was once married. That mistake will be rectified within the week as the government terminates what I thought naught but death could sever."

"You sound almost gleeful about that."

"My wife wasn't faithful to me and, when I really considered it, I knew we never really loved one another."

"Never?"

"It's difficult to love what you're trying to possess."

"I see."

"I truly hope not." John shuddered and Anna stepped closer to him as the song ended.

"Whatever pain you endured by her hand, or even if by your own action, that is something someone else can still understand."

"I hope it's through the empathy you suggested comes from literature and not hard experience."

"We've all taken our beatings from life, Mr. Bates." Anna took form again as the next song started. "I can assume our licks have only been slightly different but they come from the same master with the same purpose."

"Which would be what?"

"To learn." Anna pulled John into the steps. "And what lessons they've been."

"Truly."