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“Me?”

“It’s like what I told her,” Vincent answered simply. “She could have no greater champion than her sister. You’ll stand strong and true, and you’ll browbeat that brother of hers into accepting her back into the fold,” he said grimly.

Theo stared at him. “And what did Henrietta say to that?”

He shifted from one foot to the other. “She … she went off in a fit of weeping, miss,” he confessed. “She seems to think she ain’t treated you like what she ought to. Says she’s ashamed to face you now.” He swallowed. “I told her you wasn’t one to bear past grudges,” he said staunchly.

“Of course not,” Theo replied quickly, though her heart sank. “And of course, she needs to come home. The sooner, the better I should say.” Vincent seemed to sag a little with relief. “Will she need help extricating herself from wherever she is currently?”

“No.” He shook his head. “She’s in lodgings. I can help her pack up her bags and bring her along as soon as it gets dark, and you’ve smoothed the way with Mr. Fields.” He hesitated. “She … she don’t want to talk about what’s happened this past couple of months. Can you make that plain to ‘im?”

Theo regarded him gravely a moment before she made a reply. “I can certainly explain to Felix that Hetty needs peace and quiet and no immediate requests for information,” she stressed, “but I don’t know that I can work miracles, Vincent.”

Vincent shook his head. “That’s not what I’ve ‘eard,” he said simply.

“Pardon?”

He stood silent a moment before relenting. “My neighbor Mrs. Warrender’s goes to see you every Saturday afternoon at The Eagle,” he said. “She’s ‘ad a lot to contend wiv this past year. Lost ‘er ‘usband, then‘er son. She says she’d see you twice a day, if she could. Says you’re a regular tonic, a ray of sunshine in a dark world. Says you’re what gets her through the week.”

Theo stared. It was the most eloquent speech Vincent had ever made in her presence. “You lodge in Whitechapel, I think?” He nodded. “You must give me your neighbor’s address so that I can send her some complimentary tickets,” she managed at last.

“That would make ‘er day,” he acknowledged.

Theo’s mind was a whirl. “I-I suppose I could say that Hetty has been ill, the channel crossing adversely affected her health. That all her plans were overset by this,” she continued slowly, “and she was forced to return home.”

Vincent’s eyes flickered. “That could work,” he acknowledged cautiously. “I could tell her what you’re going to say, and she ain’t quite herself yet, truth be told.”

Theo nodded. If she said Hetty was delicate and needed to be handled with kid gloves, the gentlemen in Felix and Harold would understand. They would back right off at the notion of mystery feminine illnesses.

“Let me go down now and speak to … to everyone,” she said, standing up and squaring her shoulders. This was not going to be easy. She would have to have a care she did not bristle Felix’s feathers and turn him indignant. She needed to consider how best to handle him.

Vincent nodded. “I’ll wait in the ‘allway,” he said gruffly. “’Till you give me the nod. Then I’ll go and fetch her here.”

Theo made her agreement and made her way downstairs to face the rest of her family. It was only halfway down the stairs that she realized she did think of Harold and Clem now as part of the family.

Harold was, in truth, something like a cousin. Dear to her, but the idea of her ever holding a candle for him felt truly bizarre now somehow. Maybe all along, she had really only considered him in the light of a close relative, but her limited experience around men made her think it something more.

She shut the dining room door behind her and came into the room wearing a tight smile. Immediately, three pairs of eyes were trained on her. Four. She noticed Mrs. Cherwell lurking by the sideboard ostentatiously re-filling the mustard pot.

“Well, we must all be thankful,” she announced briskly. “Hetty is once more safely back on our shores and can return home to the bosom of her family where she belongs. She has been most unwell, poor thing. The travelling, the double crossing of the channel was all too much and overset her health completely.”

When no one spoke immediately, Theo clasped her hands together at her waist and forged forward. “It has all been a great ordeal for her and her doctor thinks it’s best she returns to normality as soon as possible. In his medical opinion, it is thought it would be beneficial if she is made comfortable with the minimum of fuss. We need to give her time and space for her recovery and have faith that she will tell us what occurred when she is ready.”

A blank silence met her words, and though she could meet Felix and Harold’s startled gazes squarely enough, she could not quite bring herself to stare down Clem, who was leaning back in his seat, observing her.

Felix glanced about the rest of them, plunking down his glass of dessert wine. “But this is all preposterous!” he said hotly. “Why does our doorman know more about our sister’s whereabouts than us? What of her husband? What does Hillingdon have to say about all this?” Felix demanded. “Seems a queer sort of business to me.”

“As I said Felix,” Theo said calmly, “our sister’s failing health was a major factor in proceedings. It seems likely it interfered greatly with their plans for the trip. I am afraid their intentions were probably overset and I, myself, cannot be clear on those points. I think we need to be patient for the time when Hetty feels sufficiently well enough to satisfy our curiosity.”

Felix blew out his cheeks. “Well, your feelings are not the only ones on the matter, Theodora!” he thundered. “I, for one, would like to hear what others present at this table have to say about this!” To Theo’s surprise, the first person he turned to was her husband. “What say you, Dabney?” he said gruffly.

Clem’s eyebrows rose. “It seems a reasonable enough request to me,” he answered blandly with a shrug of his shoulders.

Felix paused heavily, opened his mouth, shut it again, and then turned to Harold. “And you, Allsop?” he barked.

Harold looked a little shaken, but he nodded. “I er—agree with the Dabneys,” he said. “Henrietta should recuperate and share her story only when she is ready.”

Theo almost breathed out a sigh of relief but managed to nod and smile instead. “I am so glad we are all of one accord,” she said, ignoring Felix’s baleful glare and the cynical gleam in Mrs. Cherwell’s eye.