"Well?" Lady Tyrone rose to her feet but Clara quickly folded up the letter, offering her mother a vague smile.
"It is from Lord Headley," she lied, thinking quickly. "He does not ask about me, however. He is asking for my opinion as to whether or not Alice might think to accept him should he ask to court her."
Lady Tyrone's face fell. "Oh, how disappointing. I was sure that ---"
A scratch came to the door and, interrupted, Lady Tyrone turned towards it. "Come in."
The butler stepped in immediately. "Lady Alice has come to call, my lady." Stepping aside, he held the door open as Alice walked in, smiling a greeting first at Lady Tyrone and then to Clara herself.
Relief pushed into Clara's veins. "Alice, how good to see you."
"I shall leave you both to chatter away, as I am sure you will do all the better without my company." Lady Tyrone smiled at Clara and then at Alice. "Shall I have a tray sent up?"
"Oh, yes please." Alice beamed at her aunt, then came to sit down in the chair Lady Tyrone had only just vacated. "Now, Clara, you must tell me ---"
Clara lifted one hand, palm out, as she tilted her head in the direction of her mother. Alice, flushing red, cleared her throat and then continued. "You must tell me which gentlemen you were dancing with last evening. I am sure that you have some admirers amongst them!"
The door closed behind Lady Tyrone and Clara let out an audible sigh of relief, her shoulders rounding. "I do apologise for hushing you as I did but I was afraid you were to ask me about Lord Rutland within my mother's hearing."
Alice's cheeks remained red. "I was," she admitted, looking down at her hands. "I quite forgot for a moment, do forgive me. It is only because we had no opportunity to talk after yesterday's visit since your mother was always present thereafter." Her head lifted and she gave Clara a rueful smile. "I do apologise. But I hope all went well?"
Clara pressed her lips flat as she thought of how to answer. "He accepted that I did not have any desire to write that letter," she began, as Alice's smile began to fade. "He believes that to be the truth for which I am grateful. He knows that I still have an affection for him within my heart and that I want now to find out the truth as to why we are to stay apart."
"But he does not share that desire?" Alice asked, as Clara blinked furiously, her tears coming quickly. "Surely he did not say that he was content to leave things as they stand?"
Closing her eyes so that her tears would not fall, Clara drew in a shaking breath. Lord Rutland's words had broken her heart all over again, making it quite clear to her that her letter had done more damage than she had realized. "He said that even if we did find out the reason behind our separation, there was no promise of ever returning to one another." Remembering hiswords clearly, she repeated them to Alice. "He finished by saying that whilst the investigation might give us clarity, it would only bring further pain."
"Oh, my dear cousin." Alice's voice was filled with sympathy, her own eyes damp. "How dreadful for you."
Taking in another breath, Clara set back her shoulders and shook her head. "I have been quite broken by it, I will admit, but..." Looking down at the letter in her hand, she hesitated. "I think I am determined to find out the truth all the same."
Alice's eyebrows lifted. "You are?"
Clara nodded, then held up the letter. "My mother thinks this letter is from Lord Headley for that is what I told her." Her cheeks heated at Alice's surprised expression. "Lying is not something I am inclined to do with any ease, Alice, but I had to keep this from her. It is from my younger brother, Thomas."
"Lord Thomas?" Alice's eyebrows shot towards her hairline. "You said that he has been away on business. That he has been away for some time."
"Indeed, for that is what I was told," Clara responded, opening up the letter again and smoothing it out on her lap. "He left before Christmas Day, about a week before the ball where Lord Rutland and I declared our love for each other." Her eyes went to the letter, reading the first lines. "Listen to this." She paused, then began to read. "'Clara, if our mother or brother are present when you are reading this, then pray hide it from them and pretend it is from someone else.'" Looking up, she saw Alice's eyes widen. "'I have heard from our brother that you have been forced to step away from Lord Rutland and for that, I am sorry --- but from his letter, I have ascertained that it was his doing and not your own.'"
"Your brother David has been writing to Thomas?" Alice asked, as Clara nodded. "Then he must know where he is."
"But has not informed me," Clara agreed. "I have asked to write to him many a time but Tyrone has always stated he did not know where Thomas was." Her stomach twisted with discomfort. "There is something amiss here, is there not?"
Alice nodded, then gestured to the letter, her eyes still wide. "What else does it say?"
Clara looked back at the letter. "Thomas writes this: 'You were separated from Lord Rutland for the very same reason that I was sent away. Shame.'" She paused, swallowing, then continued reading. "'There is more to this than you know, Clara, more than I can set down in a letter that might be intercepted. But I will tell you this much --- I had begun to think well of a certain lady. I believe she thought well of me also, though we had barely spoken. Our brother's actions destroyed any hope of that before it could take root, and she has suffered for it far more than I.'"
Alice stared at her. "Thomas was attached to someone?"
"It would seem so." Clara's voice was barely a whisper. The ache in Thomas's words ---she has suffered for it far more than I--- struck her with a force she had not expected. Two siblings, both separated from the people they had begun to care for, both by the same brother's hand. Whatever David had done, it had not merely affected her and Lord Rutland. It had reached further than she had ever imagined.
"Does he say who this lady is?" Alice pressed.
Clara shook her head, scanning the remaining lines. "'I cannot tell you everything, not yet and not by letter. But I am trying to find my way back to London. When I do, I will tell you the whole of it --- and then you may judge for yourself what is to be done. Until then, be careful of Tyrone. He is not what he seems, Clara. He is afraid, and afraid men are dangerous.'"
The final line sat between them in silence.He is afraid, and afraid men are dangerous.Clara thought of her brother's ashenface at the ball, the way his hand had tightened on her arm when someone mentioned the Jennings family. The terror in his eyes that she had been unable to explain.
"There is more," she said, her voice strained, "but I have not had time to read it all. If you will give me a moment, I ---"
