17th of March 1862, House Bitter, Kingdom of Hanover, Europe.

Having descended two steep staircases, Sarah found herself once again on the ground floor. Jakob Bitter led her to a door behind the stairway and knocked briskly. Before it was even opened, he already excused himself and walked away. Sarah was once again in Josephine's care. Still holding onto her bag, she was sat down on a stool in the kitchen and given a bowl of soup with a dry piece of bread.

"Oh, I do think your journey must have been long, just look at you! You seem almost ill. Now, I know, Mr. Bitter does not wish for me to be nosy, but I was wondering where you came from. Surely you can give me a hint? Eat, eat, before it gets cold! Did you come from a big city with a harbour? I heard there are more of your kind there by the sea. You do speak quite perfect German, so I take it you were born and raised here? Perhaps it has even been a few generations since, you know." Josephine looked over at her questioningly. Sarah held her bread very tightly.

"Mr. Bitter asked me not to talk of my past with anyone." It sounded firm enough, but Sarah worried that she might have offended Josephine. Pretending to be very busy with her soup, she only got a rough impression of the kitchen. There were cupboards of dark wood all over. A gas-powered stove stood in a corner and heated up the entire room quite comfortably. There were several gas lamps lit in the room which lacked any windows. Josephine stood at a table, chopping vegetables and collecting them in a big pot. Her silence worried Sarah, but it didn't last long.

"Mr. Bitter is a very good man. You should be grateful that he is taking you in, and on such short notice!"

"I am very grateful-"

"Then again, he can't help himself, he's always picking up people here and there. I think it's because he only has his one son, Josef, you know. Perhaps now that there's a baby on the way, Mr. Bitter will be truly happy. I take it you know all about the family?" Josephine for once actually paused to wait for a reply.

"No, I know almost nothing. I was only told to find the Bitter family in Hanover, and now I've met Mr. Bitter, as you know." Sarah lied. In fact, she had been told quite a lot about the family dynamics.

"Well then, you're in for a story! Where do I begin, ah, yes, Mr. Johannes Bitter! He is Mr. Bitter's father and he is the one who originally bought this house, right after it was built! You see, Mr. Johannes Bitter was a frequent visitor of the royal family. He has a lovely wife, Anna-Maria, but she passed away years since. The two of them had many children, but few made it past their youth. Mr. Bitter grew up with two lovely sisters, Marie and Luise, but they now live with their husbands. I do think Mr. Bitter is rather fond of his nephews and nieces, but his wife Sophie only ever gave him one son, Josef. I was there, you know, when the lad was born. His mother fell terribly ill afterwards and we thought she'd go to her maker, but she survived, never to bear a child again. Oh, but Josef was a dear! Well, not always, he sure did have his temper when he was little." Josephine paused and laughed. "Now he's all grown-up, with a little wife of his own. Her name is Esther, she's too sweet! They got married almost a year ago and have been living here with Mr. Bitter, his wife and his old father ever since. Judging by the size of Esther's belly, I would say the next Bitter will arrive in a matter of weeks! Wouldn't that be lovely? It has been all too quiet in this house lately."

"So there are three generations of Bitters living here right now?" Sarah asked innocently.

"Exactly, three, soon four. I expect you'll have to call Josef Bitter Mr. Bitter, too. Oh dear, that could get confusing. Ah, you can do it like Susanne does! You see, she's only seventeen, so of course she can't go around saying Josef to her master's son if he's older than her! She talks of Mr. Bitter junior, meaning my dear lad Josef, Mr. Bitter, his father, and Mr. Bitter senior. That's junior for Josef, just Mr. Bitter for Jakob, and senior for Johannes. Dear Lord, they sure do like the letter J in this family, don't they? In my family, that's not a thing, I sure am the only one who starts her name with it. Perhaps that is why Mr. Bitter employed me all these years ago." They laughed together.

"Are you the only servant working here?" Sarah asked between two spoons of her surprisingly tasty soup.

"Oh, no, dear, I could not manage a house this size on my own! And weren't you listening, I just told you about Susanne. She's only seventeen, but the girl has been working here for three years now. After her father fell ill and her family went hungry, Mr. Bitter didn't hesitate to take the child in. I think all her pay goes straight to feeding her younger siblings."

"What about her mother?"

A silence followed. "Well, darling, they had to take her away." Josephine's voice dropped to a whisper. "She was ill, you see, in her head." Sarah felt overwhelmed. The thought of filthy asylums for the mentally ill even centuries after the time she was currently in popped into her head. "There, there, don't you cry over it, you don't even know her. These things happen. We have to be grateful that Mr. Bitter stepped in and helped the rest of the family!" Josephine seemed unreasonably optimistic regarding that what she described was child labour. Sarah remained quiet. "Where were we... Ah, right, you asked about the other servants. There's one more in our little group, her name is Lilliane, but she does not live here. Every Thursday and Saturday, she comes in to help out. I do expect Mr. Bitter will offer her to stay longer once the child is born, but we will have to wait and see. Are you done with your soup yet?"

Sarah was done indeed, not only with her soup. She felt exhausted and weighed down with all Josephine had told her about. When Josephine lay aside her knife and led her out of the kitchen, Sarah felt relieved. She realized that the house had a rather simple setup. The hallway with the stairs in it was a straight line, separating the house into a left and a right half. The kitchen was on the right side with its door almost hidden behind the staircase. Immediately next to it was a bigger door, forming the opposite end of the hallway. Josephine told her in passing that this led to the dining hall. Apparently, there was also a sitting room, a reception, a music room, an art room, a trophy room, another sitting room, a storage room, several bedrooms and library. Sarah tried to memorize this as best she could, but she felt very tired by then.

Josephine led her up to the top floor again. She opened the middle door in the left half of the house. It revealed a small room without any natural light. There was an unlit gas lamp barely visible in what little light shone in from the hallway. Three narrow beds were pushed against the walls of the room, leaving barely enough space for two people to stand in the middle.

"This is your bed." Josephine said, pointing at the bed at the far end. "I sleep on the right, Susanne on the left."

"I thought Susanne is looking after her family?"

"Yes, of course she is, but that doesn't mean taking up space in their tiny home! How silly of you, Mr. Bitter generously took her in, she does not pay for food nor lodging, so there's more money she can send to her family. Anyway, set down your bag and have a rest, I will come wake you after lunch so you can help me tidy up. Rest well, child." Josephine turned abruptly and went down the stairs again. Sarah took off her shoes and placed them next to her bag. After closing the door, the room was wrapped in darkness, so Sarah carefully walked back across and snuck under her covers. A nap was exactly what she needed now.