As Cooper spun his tale Helena found her cup emptying itself one, two, three times and each time it was very gallantly topped up by the man and though she protested a little - "Honestly mister Cooper... I hope you're not trying to get me drunk" - it seemed an awful waste not to empty the cup once it was filled. "Oh alright, but that’s the last one," she vowed once, twice. When he topped it up a third time she gave him a stern look, the governess-look she used on the kids when they were being particularly naughty, and she called him a terrible man.<br/><br/>She should have gotten up at that point. Should have said something about it being awfully late and a serious day tomorrow, what with needing to tell the kids about their father's passing... But that last thought was so depressing she decided to stay for a bit longer. It was not a prospect to make you sleep well.<br/><br/>As Cooper had shared his life-story - and my what a story it was, humble beginnings indeed - it seemed only fair to share her own. And so she told him of the luxury life she'd led as a daughter of Thomas Whitlock, owner of the Whitlock brewery. And of the sudden change of fortune the family had suffered. "The brewery burned down," she said. "In a rather spectacular fire. What you'd call going out with a bang..." she had to giggle at that, "I'm sorry... That's not funny at all." Especially since the explosions had damaged some buildings adjacent to the brewery, for which her father and his partners had then been held accountable. "And so... from one day to the next the money was gone and I had to find a job. I never expected having to find a job..." that was the worst of it, she felt.<br/><br/>Helena fell silent, and after a while she grabbed the bottle of brandy and upended it first over Cooper's cup, then over her own, shaking the bottle so as to get the last drops out.<br/><br/>She stared at the empty container.<br/><br/>Oh dear... Had they drank all that?<br/>