"Hello?" Lydia called out as she stepped into the small building. Immediately the stale odor that always hung in the air in these buildings assaulted her nostrils. No one was in sight as she stepped cautiously into the dark interior.

The low ceiling, large wall fireplace in the living room, hard wood creaking floors, austere high-backed chairs surrounding a plain oaken table suggested this home was once owned by a middle class merchant hundreds of years ago. Lydia walked slowly through the living room, trailing her fingertips softly across the blue flower wallpaper barely visible in the growing darkness. Passing round one corner of the fireplace, the blonde reached a narrow winding stairway leading, she supposed, to the upstairs bedroom. Suddenly finding herself enjoying this excursion, Lydia mounted the stairs, holding on to a creaking railing with one hand.

She reached the top and turned to the right, poking her head into what she guessed was the master bedroom. A small fireplace seemed carved into the wall nearest her with a bed warmer leaning against one side. Two Bentwood rockers stood at either end of the room, while in the middle a canopied bed occupied most of the space. But what Lydia found startling was some shape sprawled across the puffy mattress.

"Oh!" she cried out involuntarily, realizing only now it was a man. Her little cry woke the young man from his dozing. Her jerked up, rubbed his eyes and stared blankly at the blonde.

"I'm sorry," Lydia giggled nervously. She felt she should turn around and leave the house. Yet there was something in her that told her to stand still and wait for… for what she wondered.

"No, I should be apologizing," the young man said, throwing his legs over the right side of the bed. He was dressed in the blue knickers and high white socks most of the attendants of the official exhibits wore. He had taken off his white powdered wig, revealing a full head of black curly hair. His drawstring white cotton shirt was fully opened to the waist, allowing Lydia to view his muscular hairy chest. "I thought nobody else would be coming in. It's almost closing time isn't it?"