A/N: Okay, so I went back and fixed a ton of stuff on Chapter Twelve so please please please go back and re-read it. You'll undoubtedly miss something horribly important if you don't.

Okay. That was a lie.

Sorry.

I just really think you should go back and re-read it. Please? Pretty please?

Chapter Thirteen

The next few days were complete chaos. We were in the height of the season and with Ester devoting nearly all her time to the special preparations for our 'special guest' it meant that the rest of us had to pick up the slack. It was amazing to me how much Ester did at the hotel that I had never noticed.

More than once I wished I really were deaf so as not to hear the people chastising me for not having their meals out soon enough or letting their glass go nearly all the way to the bottom before refilling it. However, with Ester elsewhere, there was no one to tell the people dining that I couldn't understand them. The realization of that fact only further frustrated them.

I even had one lady storm into the kitchen because there were not enough potato slices in her soup. Janette quickly stopped the Lady's rant by handing the woman a knife and a bag of potatoes and told her if she didn't like to get to work. I hid a pinched smile in my shoulder as I grabbed another serving tray and left. The woman retreated to her room and did not come down the next night for supper.

When the most important customer to ever cross the threshold of the Exchequer Hotel finally did arrive, it was to much pomp and circumstance. Other guests stopped and nodded or even bowed in respect as he passed. I never saw him enter. I was too busy running an errand for Ester. She had told me to exchange the linens in the Baron's room with others that she believed looked whiter. After trying to feebly run up the stairs to the finest room, I switched the towels, though they looked identically immaculate. I shook my head as I exited the room but turned and made one last cursory glance.

Something was missing but I couldn't place what it was. I could hear Ester downstairs giving him the tour. He did not seem to be exceedingly thrilled with it because I could hear Ester trying to catch his attention as he apparently walked where he wanted.

Just as I was ready to give up and blame my faulty brain on believing something was amiss it struck me what was not there. I made it to my room panting. My body was not yet strong enough for the sudden exertion. I took a wild, red rose from the small bundle of three that Helen had given me the previous morning. I chose the one that looked the freshest. It was still slightly wilted, but it would do. I could not explain why I thought it needed the wild rose. It just seemed to fit.

I walked as quickly as I could back to the Baron's room. I laid the rose on rounded table in the center of the stately room and left just as Ester and the Baron were climbing the stairs. I ducked into the room beside it and prayed that I was not seen. Ester would be furious if the Baron believed that his room had not been finished before his arrival.

Ester said nothing that night to me and seemed to be relieved, though still high strung. The Baron stayed in his suite the rest of the day with the single companion that had accompanied him. I overheard one of the guests that I was refilling the gin tumbler that evening for say that the Baron was going over secret military information.

No one seemed to know anything concrete about this highly respected man. The most common theory seemed to be that he was from a Romanian aristocratic family and had served a secret Russian faction before hearing about the Commune's invasion and came to Paris to defend the French people. This made very little sense to me, but seeing as I could not question anyone with any possible knowledge because there seemed to be none and I was happy with being deaf, I let it be.

I felt badly for Janette. She had fixed the most beautiful meal in the history of the hotel, but the Baron did not come down to eat. His companion did, however and Ester insisted on serving him personally. No one but Ester was even allowed to be near his table. He was served the Baron's meal but the man ate only a small portion before retiring back to his room.

Ester was sure that the meal was to blame and threatened Janette that she would be fired if any guest left before they had finished their complete meal. Janette looked furious but said nothing.

It took us even longer to clean everything at the end of the night. People waited until well after Janette had begun to wash the dishes to see if the Baron would come down. When it became clear he would not, people slowly filed back to their rooms or strolled by the lake under the starlight. After that, we still had to make everything perfect for the next morning.

When we finally finished we all crawled, deflated of all energy, back to our beds. Helen kissed my cheek and stumbled off to her own bed. I was strangely thankful for that. I did not have the strength to even sit up. I fell asleep, fully clothed, before even pulling the scratchy blanket over myself.

The next morning began with a harsh start. My face stung when I opened my eyes, confused, to see Ester standing over me. Her hand came down with a resounding slap. I realized, groggily, that it must not have been the first time since I awoke with my head already ringing.

"Did. You. Put. A. Flower. In. The. Baron's. Room?" She was yelling at me so loudly that I had to resist covering my ears. She enunciated each word as its own complete sentence. She must have assumed that deafness can be cured with extremely loud volume.

She yanked the other roses from the vase on the windowsill and shook them in my face. The shaking turned to hitting and I raised my arms to cover my face. The thorns made small cuts into my exposed skin, drawing lines of blood not deep enough to drip.

Helen appeared in the doorway and flew into a frenzy at the sight of Ester repeatedly smacking me. Ester's fury frightened me more than it hurt, but Helen acted as though she saw me being tortured to death. She threw herself at Ester, landed on the inn-keeper's back and tried to pull her off me. My heart froze as Ester turned on Helen and shoved her against the wall. Something inside me seemed to switch on and every protective instinct came to full alert. I placed myself in front of Helen, arms extended to protect her. I had not moved so fast since before the Commune.

"Did you put a flower in the Baron's room?" she asked again, her voice still unnaturally shrill but not at quite the volume it had been before. I could not keep up the façade any longer. Had it just been me I would have kept silent and let her do her worst. But with Helen right there, it was not something I was willing to resist.

I opened my mouth to speak, knowing that when I did, Ester would make me leave. She would never forgive me for deceiving her. I would never see Helen again, or Janette. I would be homeless, jobless and lost, but I was willing to face that fate for the sake of Helen. I took a deep breath and looked directly in Ester's eyes.

"I did it."