There was nothing visible from the outside. No gasp. No sudden movement. Just a pause, so brief it lasted less than a second. His eyes met hers, and something behind them shifted, the way a flame shifts when a small breath of air reaches it. The feeling was familiar and strange at the same time, like a word on the tip of the tongue that will not come forward.

He blinked, and the moment passed.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice calm and even. “You must be Rebecca.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, standing. “Good morning.”

He studied her face for just a moment longer than was necessary, so briefly that she barely noticed it. Then he gestured toward the sitting room.

“Come in,” he said. “Let’s talk.”

She followed him inside.

Neither of them spoke about the strange feeling that had passed between them. Neither of them had words for it yet. But it was there, quiet and patient, waiting like a door that had not yet been opened but whose handle had just been touched.

The sitting room was large and neat, the way the rest of the house was neat. Everything was in its place. There were 2 deep leather chairs facing each other across a low wooden table. A tall bookshelf covered most of 1 wall, filled with thick books arranged by size. A single potted plant sat in the corner by the window, its dark green leaves healthy and still. Above the fireplace hung a large painting of a river moving through tall trees, the kind of painting that did not ask you to feel anything in particular but gave you a sense of quiet all the same.

Mr. Caleb sat in 1 of the leather chairs and gestured for Rebecca to take the other.

She sat down carefully, her bag on her lap, her back straight but not stiff. She had learned a long time ago how to sit in a room that was not hers, how to be present without taking up more space than was offered to her.

Grace hovered near the doorway for a moment, then quietly disappeared toward the kitchen, leaving the 2 of them alone.

Mr. Caleb looked at Rebecca. Rebecca looked at Mr. Caleb.

“Grace has told me about you,” he began. His voice was level and measured, the voice of a man who chose each word before saying it. “She speaks well of you. That matters to me because Grace does not say things she doesn’t mean.”

“She has always been kind to me,” Rebecca said.

“How long have you known her?”