We watch as the pair rounds the corner. The girl glides along the fence line as though her feet had never touched the ground. They take the steps up to the convent slowly. There is only one reason that a man like that would come to our convent. I know that he wants to take a girl from us and bring her back with him. He is either looking for a daughter to care for before she dies, or a wife to give him more children. I am trying to determine which type this stranger is when he disappears behind the front door.

Father Urselle has warned us to prepare ourselves, although it's sometime before the strange man and his beautiful companion enter our dorm. In the mean time Rabbit is glued to the mirror, checking her eyes for redness from being outside so long or dark circles from not enough sleep. She begs me to braid her hair, and I oblige only because she looks so crestfallen when I initially say no.

I already know that they will not want me. I am not pretty or domesticated enough to be adopted. Rabbit though, has always encapsulated both of those things, and I am suddenly panicked.