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She was rambling now, and shaking as she told the story.
It felt like they were on the brink of discovery, even though it felt like it had happened entirely on accident.
Gregory didn’t say much this entire time, but he had a worried expression on his face.
“Did you get the chance to speak to him?”
“No, well… not really. I just know that he was visiting, and that he was strange. But it all makes sense now. Oh, I have a plan!”
Gregory looked horrified but didn’t interrupt her.
“At the charity ball, we can get… I mean, I can arrange for the children from the orhapange to hold a concert. He will surely hear of it, and we can lure him to attend. Once he does, we can catch him and you can get the information you need out of him.”
In her mind, this was the perfect plan. And it was something that they could do together.
Finally, she could help him out of this mess that he was in. She would be by his side, as she had always wanted to all this time.
“I think I can start planning immediately. I mean, I have all the arrangements made for the ball so it shouldn’t take long at all. Tomorrow, I can go to the orphanage and get the arrangements made. I know the children will be more than happy to do this….”
“Philippa..” his face had gone dark and ominous. If she wasn’t in love with him, she might have been scared of that look on his face.
“What is it?” she asked, knitting her eyebrows together. Surely, he would have no problem with her plan.
It was the perfect plan in her mind, after all.
“You and Theodore are not to be involved,” he said in a stern tone that left little room to argue. “This is the man who abandoned my sister, and never did he look back, until now.”
“You are worrying for no reason,” she shook her head, “He will never get close to the baby, and in this manner, we have a very sure way of catching him. It will make the whole thing so much quicker, and easy.”
“You will not get involved,” he said again. “This is my fight, and I will finish it.”
He left then, without saying another word.
Suddenly, Phillipa found herself feeling as lonely as she had in the days before.
Augusta was visiting again. Phillipa had begun to feel grateful for these frequent visits, for she felt like that they kept her sane and drowning too much in her own thoughts.
“I need to ask you for advice,” she tried to bring up the subject casually. But Augusta was immediately curious.
Focusing all of her attention on her friend, she turned to look at her. “What do you want to know?”
“Well… it’s just… consider this a scenario that I cannot divulge too many details on. So please, don’t ask me too many details. Can you promise me that before?”
Augusta looked offended. “Do you really think I will prod when I’m not supposed to?”
“Well no,” Phillipa said quickly. “That is the reason why I am asking you.”
Augusta said nothing, and only waited for her friend to continue.
“I know that it is not in our power to control the actions of others, nor should we try to do so. That would be very.. controlling. But I want to know,” she said, biting down on her lip, “What are you meant to do when someone is refusing to listen to you?”
“About?”
“Well, something that concerns the person I am giving the suggestion to. They can probably see that it is a really good idea, in earnest, but they have their reservations.”
“And do you think the reservations are justified?”
Phillipa considered this for a moment in her mind.
