Despite having been gone for the entire day, Father made no comment about my absences, nor did he mention our supper plans with the Marlow's. It seemed that once again we had returned to our behaviour of ignoring each other until one of us finally gave in. This suited me perfectly well since it meant I no longer had to deal with him breathing down my neck when it came to studying or how I spent my time.

My conversation with Mrs Reed had given me a lot to think about, particularly when it came to my supposed match with Clara Marlow. If Mrs Reed had been right about the staff disliking her because of her attitude towards the staff, I wondered whether Clara behaved the same way. It was not in my best interest to be with someone who didn't offer the staff the courtesy that they deserved. It solidified my thoughts about the whole situation, at any rate.

The next day, I left the stack of books in my room and headed down the hall to Alice's bedroom to find out what had happened the previous day. George and I had been a little late in returning, having stopped at the Inn for something to eat, so I didn't have the opportunity to speak with her the way I wanted to.

I knocked lightly on her bedroom door, pushing the door open just a little before she replied.

"Are you decent?" I asked.

"Yes, although perhaps you should have waited until after I answered, or allowed me to open the door instead."

"Where is the fun in that?" I pushed the door open fully and stepped into the room.

Alice stood in the centre of her room, brushing her hands over the sleeves of her dress. "What can I help you with today? Or are you just here to annoy me, as per usual?"

"Well, that, but I wanted to see how yesterday went with Miss Edwards."

"Sit down. You make the room look untidy."

I frowned. "You're standing too."

"Yes, but I don't look like a walking mess. You do."

Alice laughed at her own joke, although I wasn't sure what was particularly funny about it. I shuffled into the room, attempting to touch as little as possible so I didn't make the room look untidy, as Alice put it. As always, her room didn't look as though anyone ever lived inside of it. The bed was pristine, with not a crease or pillow out of place. Her dresser had been cleaned with all her spare hairpins and ribbons, having been tucked away from view. It looked more like one of the spare rooms than a bedroom.

I took a seat on the very edge of the bed to make sure I didn't destroy the pristine nature of it all. Alice continued to play around with her dress for a few more moments. She pulled loose thread off the sleeves and smoothed down the bodice and the skirt several times before she was happy. After a few minutes, she turned to face me and stood in front of me, her arms folded over her chest and her eyebrow slightly raised.

"So, how did yesterday go?" I asked.

"Perfectly well. I can look after Miss Edwards, Nate. I don't need you holding my hand all the time."

"That's not why I'm asking." I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. "I just wanted to know if she said anything, told you anything."

"Not really. I showed her the horses again. We took Genisis out for a walk around the grounds, and then she went back to her room. That was about it." She shrugged. "What about your day? Did you uncover anything?"

"About Miss Edwards? No. I spoke to Joseph, and he said he was going to ask around the other stable hands to see if they knew of a horse called Abacus. Other than that, I went and spoke to Mrs Reed, the old housekeeper, under Mr Marlow."

Alice frowned. "Why did you go and see her? I thought you were focused on Miss Edwards and finding out what happened to her, not speaking to an old housekeeper."

"I just wanted to talk about Lily, that's all. No one under the Marlow's service now remembers her and one of the servants, Eli Burch, thought that she might be able to help."

"And did it?"

I sat forward, resting my arms on my thighs. "She gave me a lot to think about. Her belief is that Lily didn't like her new step-mother, although she never said so, and the servants weren't too keen on her because of the way she spoke to them."

"But how does that help you?"

"It doesn't. I don't think Father is going to call off this supper with Miss Clara Marlow over the gossip of a housekeeper. Still, it was an interesting conversation."

"I expect it was." Alice unfolded her arms. "I thought we might bring one of the cats from the stables up to Miss Edward's room. Let her play with one of them."

"Father won't be too pleased about that."

"He is out for the day, so he won't be here. I thought we might take Sooty. He is your cat, after all."

"He's the stables cat, not mine, but fair enough. I'll go down and get him. The last thing I want to do is get cat hair over your pristine appearance."

Alice made a swipe at me with her hand as I stood up, but I darted past her and ran from the room, laughing to myself as I went. I stepped out into the hallway and down the stairs, grateful that I didn't have to worry about coming across Father or him seeing me acting like a child as I ran down the stairs. At least I would be able to go a whole day without seeing him again.

I didn't quite understand what Alice's plan was with Sooty, especially as she had never been all that keen on the cats that lived in the stables. Still, if she thought that spending time with the cat would make a little difference to Rebecca's mood, then who was I to disappoint her? Sooty would certainly enjoy being out of the stables and having someone to play with, and I knew the stable hands would be fine with me taking him out from under their feet for a few hours.

When I reached the stables, I said a brief hello to Lightning and the stable hands before I went on the hunt for the cats. Usually, they were found curled up amongst the spare straw or chasing mice that had wandered into the stables. I found several of them fighting in one of the back corners with Sooty nowhere near them, but he couldn't have been too far behind them. I peered into one of the stalls, looking in the furthest corner.

In the corner, Sooty was curled up amongst the clean straw. I opened the door to the stall and stepped inside, side-stepping past Genesis, who nudged me with her nose for some food. After a quick stroke of Genesis, I bent down and scooped Sooty up. The cat meowed softly at me but made few complaints as I held him in my arms and walked out of the stable and back up to the house.

Even though Father would be away for the day, I kept Sooty hidden under my jacket. I had planned on taking the jacket off because of the heat, but it served as a good way to keep the cat hidden from the servants. The servants would be none too happy about the cat being in the house, especially as they had a habit of scratching up the furniture in their free time. No one bothered me as I climbed the stairs with Sooty purring away in my jacket.

I knocked on Rebecca's door and pushed it open with my foot, careful not to disturb or frighten the cat. "Special delivery," I said.

"Why are you hiding him?" Alice raised an eyebrow at me.

"The servants. They'll wring my neck if they see me sneaking a cat into the house. They'll probably wring it anyway once they see the cat's hair everywhere. He's a black cat and these blankets are white."

"Free the poor thing before he suffocates. Or not, he might bite you and we'll all get a good laugh out of it."

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious." I pulled Sooty out of my jacket and placed him on the bed, sitting down on the edge. "Miss Edwards, meet Sooty. He was a stray I found wandering around the grounds and took in to work in the stables."

"That's a common occurrence. Most of the cats we have in the stables were strays Nate took in."

"Cats are cute. Leave me alone."

Rebecca leant forward, tapping her hand against the bed. Sooty looked up, stretching against the blanket and slinging forward towards Rebecca's outstretched hand. "He's adorable."

Sooty stalked the length of the bed, crouching low as Rebecca continued to wriggle her fingers against the blanket. He wiggled a little, readjusting his stance, before he launched himself at Rebecca's, moving her hand. Rebecca moved her fingers just in time. The cat let out a soft meow at his prey having escaped him, whilst Rebecca let out a small giggle and scratched him behind the ears.

Alice and I exchanged glances, the two of us fighting the smiles on our faces. Even though it pained me to admit it, Alice had been having some good ideas about Rebecca, and this was one of them. It may not provide us with the information we needed to find out where she came from or what happened to her, but it made her smile, and that was more than enough. Maybe I had been looking at it all wrong.

My method helped me and my problems. It did nothing to help Rebecca and the trauma she was no doubt going through after everything that had happened. I had been focusing so much on myself and what I thought Rebecca needed, and not on what she really needed. She needed a place where she felt comfortable, a place where she could heal from what happened. My methods had not been offering that, Alice's did.

"I don't think I have ever seen him attach himself to a person so quickly," I said. Sooty had made himself comfortable on Rebecca's lap, purring away as Rebecca lazily dragged her hand down his back. "He swiped at me and the stable hands when we first got him."

"You are quite scary, Nate. I think it might be the face."

"He's so cute. We had stable cats."

Alice smiled. "I don't think you had as many as we do. Nate just loves to bring home cats. There are more cats in the stables than horses at this point."

"One of the cats, Luna, used to sleep at the end of my bed at night, but she ran away."

"That's a shame. Did she ever come back? We had some cats run off, but they returned shortly after with a mouse in their mouth." I shuddered. "Not something I ever want to find in Lightning's stall."

"She didn't. We never did find her."

"Why don't we let Sooty sleep here tonight? I'm sure the stable hands won't mind and he looks too comfortable to move him anywhere else." Alice said.

"And the servants? They'll flay us alive if they see the cat hair all over the sheets and I am too young and too handsome to die."

"I'll talk to them. I expect they'll be fine with it once they find out why he's staying. Besides, if anyone is going to get into trouble, it'll be you. I am willing to sacrifice you for the sake of Miss Edwards and Sooty's happiness."

"Alright, I suppose someone should tell the stable hands they'll be down a mouser for the night."

"With all the cats down there, I doubt Sooty will be missed."

I shook my head and pushed myself off the bed, scratching Sooty lightly behind the ears and receiving a small mewl in response. Alice raised an eyebrow at me and pointed her chin towards the door. Since she wanted me gone, I took my leave, slipping from the room and out into the hallway. I left the door partially open. I peered through the small gap in the door and watched Rebecca lightly stroke Sooty's head as Alice struck up a conversation between the two of them.

My stomach twisted a little as I watched Alice and Rebecca engage in conversation with far more ease than I ever could. This whole time, I thought I had to help Rebecca on my own, but Alice was better at it than me, but I suppose it made more sense, seeing as she had been uncertain around men since she arrived.

It didn't look as though I would be much use to the whole situation, at least not when it came to getting the information from Rebecca that we needed. All I could do was take the information we had been given and try to find out just how it connected to Rebecca and the wider community. The only issue was that I hadn't been all that good at finding out how the information fitted together and instead I had hit far more brick walls than I thought I would.

Father's deadline had ticked away considerably, with only one week left before he made his decision as to where she was going to go. We were running out of time, but I didn't know how to solve the many questions Rebecca's information had given me.

There had to be something I could do.

~~~

A/N - We are back with a brand new chapter! I'm still making progress and am close to completing Chapter Twenty-Five! I'm not sure how many chapters I have until the end, but the end is approaching!

Questions!

Do you think Alice is better with Rebecca than Nate? Is he being too hard on himself?

Comment below!

First Published - February 21st, 2023