Eli knocked on the window of his bedchamber and waited. Upon his arrival by carriage, he had slowed down the horses so that the sound would not wake up the people inside the house. He had fed the horses and cleaned them, and stored the carriage the way he had found it.

The curtains on the other side of the window moved, showing Ada's sleepy form. She opened the window and helped him climb through.

"You are home early," she told him.

Eli shrugged and closed the window. "I did not attend the ball to dance. Twas merely for the bet."

"And?" she asked, suddenly awake.

"What?" he responded, pretending he did not know what she was talking about.

A smile appeared on her face. "You did not win, did you?"

He did not respond, merely stuck out his tongue.

Ada laughed at the reaction and clapped her hands. "What was the bet?"

"Whist," he admitted reluctantly.

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in a smile. "You lost in a card game?" She laughed again, harder than she had done before. "I adore Mary the more you time you spend with her!"

"Sh, be silent. I do not want Mama and Papa to wake up," he whispered.

"That is a stupid excuse," she told him. "They did not really buy the story."

He felt his heart stop beating. "Do they know?"

"Not that I am aware of. They did not enter the room or even knock. But they will hear you out tomorrow, I am certain."

Eli sighed and fell on the bed. "Well, that is a problem for tomorrow. If you please," he motioned at the door. "I would like to dress and sleep."

Ada walked closer to her brother and sniffed obvious. "You are not drunk," she noted.

"Like I said, I did not attend the ball to be social."

"No, merely to lose. But still, I am surprised. A good surprise," she added before she kissed him on the cheek. "Sweet dreams."

The tone in her voice said she meant to do more than wish him sweet dreams, but he purposefully ignored it. Ada may wish all she like, Mary was not a lady of his status. And today he had been reminded of that more than once.

And even if she was, it was still not a guarantee for anything.

-----------------------------------------------------------

When Eli woke up, the sun was already shining bright. He would usually sleep long, but after a late night like last night, he would sleep even longer. True, the night had not been as long as when he was not secretly going to a ball, but it had still been late.

Luckily the excuse he had made up with Ada was still applicable – he felt too horrible to get out of bed. But once he did and he had dressed and walked out of his room, he heard commotion in his sister's room.

As children, they had always slept in the same room. But now that they were older – and not the same sex – they had decided on separate chambers. Yet they wanted to remain close to each other, so their rooms were next to each other. Ada had wanted a door between the two rooms, but Eli had refused. If his sister would enter his room whenever she liked, he would soon die of a heart attack because of all the startling.

He walked inside her room to find her in a light blue walking dress. A servant was giving her gloves and a bonnet, which she neatly but on her head.

"Eli," she said, as she saw him, "good morning. Mama and Papa will be happy to see you finally awake. They are curious about your broken heart."

She nodded at the servant, who took the hint and left.

"Papa did not leave for the theatre. He claims there is no work. But I think he wishes to see if you are true."

He scoffed. "Of course I am not. And they know it, but they do not have any prove."

"Then make certain it stays that way, or you will be locked inside the house for the rest of the day."

"And while I am locked inside the house, you are leaving," he said and crossed his arms. "Where are you going?"

"I received a calling card this morning," she said and took a small note off her desk.

"A calling card? Who ever is so uptight to send you a cal-" He broke off his spoken trail of thoughts as he realized the answer to his own unfished question. With big steps, he walked to Ada and snatched the note out of her hands. "Mary," he read out loud, confirming his suspicion. "What does she want from you?"

"I do not know," Ada said with a shrug. "Which is why I will meet her." She snatched the note out of his hand. "I cannot promise when I will be back. And I also cannot promise I will not share some of your most embarrassing moments."

Before Eli could threaten her, she was gone. With a sigh, he looked around the room. Now what? He did not want to face his parents, but he also did not find another excuse to stay up the stairs. Mayhap – hopefully – it was already so late in the morning that his parents had already left the dining room.

But his hope was in vain. Both his mother and father were sitting around the table. Lord George was holding the newspaper in his hands and seemed to be discussing an article he had read. But their conversation disappeared in silence when he entered. Both their eyes were on him, making him feel very uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat and ignored their eyes. "Good morning."

"How are you," lady Helena asked. Her eyes were intent on Eli, who pretended not to notice it.

"Good," was his short answer. He sat down on his regular seat and started taking food.

"You were not last night," lord George said, his low voice frightening and dangerous.

He swallowed and looked at his father. "A weak moment."

"So weak that you could not come down for diner?" lady Helena asked.

He shook his head but did not respond. Instead he took a bite of the bread in front of him and pretended he was not bothered by parents' stare.

"Who was the girl?" his mother asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No one important," he said, quickly adding: "anymore."

"But she broke your heart?"

He nodded and took another bite of his breath. The sooner his meal was finished, the sooner he could excuse himself and have this conversation over with.

"Why did you never speak of her?" lord George asked tactful.

He swallowed the breath, searching for an explanation for that. He had meant to think of a realistic story, but on his way to the Morris ball, there was too much excitement to keep his thoughts straight. And when he returned, his mind was not thinking of the future. And when he had finally calmed down, he was in his bed and too tired to think of it. So now he had to make up a realistic lie in the moment.

Luckily he was trained, for he had done this many times before. "Twas not my idea," he started. "Her parents were not allowed to know, so she made me promise not to tell anyone, for whispers travel quickly. So I kept my promise," he added with a shrug.

"That would be a first," lord George said, which gained him a mean look from his wife.

"That is very thoughtful of you, Eli," she told him. "But do you not think we are trustworthy?"

"I did not mean to insult you, Mama, Papa," he reassured them. "I merely wanted to keep my promise to the girl I love."

"What is her name?"

A silence filled the room as Eli stared at his father. The question caught him off guard, for it was so obvious, he forgot to even think of an answer for that. "Elizabeth," he made up, thinking of Mary's revelation of her family. "Elizabeth Blackburn."

Seeing his parents' faces, he realized they did not know lady Blackburn. That was a huge relief. Elizabeth was a very common name, so there was no chance they would link that to the lady of Hawthorne. He had to supress a sigh of relief, but also a smile. He had outsmarted his parents – again.

Their faces did tell they were not certain if they should believe him, but they did not find any flaws in his story. That meant they could not punish him harder, which was another relief for Eli.

Now that the conversation had gone far enough, he stood up. "I believe I am finished."

"But you have barely touched your food," lady Helena argued.

He rubbed his belly as he responded: "I believe I am still quick weak."

Without waiting for them to respond, he walked out of the room. Finally he allowed himself to sigh of relief and to smile proudly.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Eli lowered himself into the bath tub. Twas very warm – just the way he liked it. Spending time in a hot bath was a perfect way to overthink everything that has happened.

But mostly it was the slight feeling of guilt he felt because of the web of lies he was stuck in that was eating at him. He had never felt it before, but this time he did. What was different?

He had lied so many times to his parents before, but now he felt like sharing everything with them. Not that he would – that would be lame. But he wanted to do that. He believed it might satisfy him if he could tell someone else than Ada what was going on in his life.

The bet with Mary had truly changed his thoughts. Not that they were different. Twas more the feeling of being preoccupied with the bet at every moment of the day that bothered him. It did not feel normal that one subject kept spooking in his mind.

He splashed some water in his face as his mind drifted to a different subject. Mr. Cook, the man he had met at the Morris ball, told him Mary was too uptight for him. He did not know why, but his words bothered Eli.

Did it mean they could not be friends because they had a different status?

The man had said lady Anne was very keen on the title their children carried, and Mary had said that the woman was the person he should truly be frightened of. It had sounded like a jest when she had said it, but was it truly?

What if Eli was not even worthy of a friend to lady Anne's opinion? Was that the reason why Mary had always been so keen on keeping him away from her family? Or was she embarrassed for setting herself so low that she spend time with a man without title?

Twas not something he should worry about. Or at least, that is what he was trying to tell himself. Was it not Mary's problem if she was seen with a title-less man? Yet it bothered him too. Why?

Eli had told Mr. Cook he did not intent to give Mary his heart. That was true, but not for the reason he led Mr. Cook to believe. Though the true reason why was not a memory he wanted to be reminded of, he needed to be certain he still thought the same about it.

Mary was different. She was different from every lady, but also from every women. She was like his sisters, indeed. Always putting him in his place, always teasing him. She was – literally – challenging him in every way possible. Even things he did not expect her to challenge him she tried, and she even won.

He could not understand it, yet it was something he liked. He had not liked losing, but thinking back of last night, he realized he did not hate it either. She had laughed so hard at him and he did not even feel insulted or embarrassed. He was proud he got to make her life like that. What on earth was happening to him?

Mayhap he should ask Ada. But if he did, he knew what she would say. She would tell him he was falling in love with Mary, which was absurd. Mary was too childish and uptight for him. And twas not the lady who was on his mind all the time. Twas the challenge she agreed to.

So should he ask Ivy or Cora? He quickly discarded that idea. They would laugh at him, tell the same as Ada would, and then tell her. They would feast on Eli, and he did not want that. So who should he tell?

Or should he not tell at all? Leave it as it was and not worry about it?

But he still felt like telling someone. Just like he felt he should tell his parents of his lies.

He shook his head. No, he should not do that. The anger his parents would have for him would be too great. The disappointment would be too obviously in their eyes, and he did not want to see that.

Yet it did not sound like a bad idea to tell his mother. Mayhap he should not yet admit the lies, but he could subtly ask why he would be bother of his status – or rather, the lack thereof.

Agreeing with himself, he came out of the bath. The water was getting cold anyway. It did not take him long to dry and get dressed, and soon he was walking in the direction of the garden, where he expected his mother to be. He was still convincing himself of why he should tell her, when suddenly Ada's voice shouted: "Mama, Papa, I am home. And I have brought a guest."

Eli startled at the sound of those words. Ada was going to meet Mary, and only a few hours later, she came home with a guest. It did not take Eli two seconds of thoughts to know who it was.

But it could not be. Ada would never bring her home. She knew of Eli's secret and how important it was that their parents did not find out. She would not be so stupid. Yes?

He saw lady Helena walk inside the house, a wide smile on her face. "A guest," she said exciting. "I wonder who."

"Yes," Eli said with a pretended smile. "I wonder too."

Carefully he turned around and followed his mother to the parlour. He saw Ivy and Cora also entering the parlour, and heard lord George's heavy footsteps were walking down the stairs.

He swallowed. This was not how things should go.

Swallowing, he entered the parlour after his mother. And after just one look inside the room, he suspicions were confirmed. Mary's green eyes were on him, her smile wide and a bit teasing.

"Mama, Papa," Ada said when lord George had entered the room. "I want you to meet my friend, lady Mary Brompton."