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“I don’t know how you do it, though,” Henrietta confessed with a faint shudder. “It’s so … raucous in there.” She fanned herself with her hand. “I don’t know that I could even look Miss Foss fully in the face after seeing her turn!”

Lil laughed and Theo belatedly remembered to tell Lil of the thawing of relations with Florrie. “She’s probably realized she’s better off having you as a friend than a foe,” Lil commented dryly. “You’re not going anywhere and she’s not getting any younger. You need to pick your battles once you’re the wrong side of thirty.” She turned to Hetty thoughtfully. “As for you dear, don’t write music hall off yet. You never know.”

Hetty shook her head. “The only capacity I could see myself working here would be to serve as dresser to you two,” she said, looking about the room which now appeared a good deal tidier after her ministrations. “You need one, you know. Even if it’s only to deal with all these floral tributes!”

Theo was a little disappointed by this, but in truth, seeing Hetty in this setting felt wrong somehow. It was just not her sister’s milieu, and she realized that now. “Did anyone spot Clem in there?” she asked lightly. Usually, she caught sight of him lurking at the back of the hall, but tonight she had not seen him once.

The others shook their heads and Theo wondered at the vague unease she felt. Everything had been fine between them that morning, she told herself, ignoring the way she had feigned sleep and not spoken a word. Unbidden, the words popped into her head. Do you have any more secrets you are hiding from me? And Clem’s response—Clem’s guilty response.

Then on top of everything else, there had been that disastrous business with Barty this afternoon. Theo’s heart sank. She had been willfully turning a blind eye to the truth. Everything was not fine between her and Clem.

When she climbed into bed that night, alone and without word from him, and woke the next morning to an empty bed, she was even more convinced of that fact.

With a grim expression on her face, she dressed and made her way to The Eagle without more ado.

“Where’s Clem?”

Jim looked up quickly at Theo’s question and exchanged an uneasy look with Sidney. “He’s—er—not here,” he said awkwardly.

“I can see that,” Theo responded patiently. “I’ve just been in his office and the fire’s not lit.” She braced herself. “Did he not sleep here last night, then?”

Jim darted his eyes meaningfully toward Sidney, who had now settled in for the duration and was now leaning comfortably against his broom.

“’E was dead drunk, darlin’,” Sidney supplied. “Couldn’t let him come ‘ome like that to you like that now, could we?”

“Sid!” Jim burst out, sounding annoyed.

“What? What’s the point in holdin’ out on Dora? She’s his wife, ain’t she?”

“What’s the point in taking him somewhere else to sober up, if you’re going to spill the beans in any case?” Jim retorted.

Theo leaned against Jim’s desk. Winkling the truth out of a stoic type like Jim would take work. “Why was he drinking so heavily?” she ventured. “Some sort of celebration?”

Sidney made an explosive sound of disagreement. “More like the bleedin’ opposite!”

Jim turned on him angrily. “If you can’t keep your mouth shut, Sid …!”

Theo straightened up. “Sid, perhaps you and I should go for cup of nice hot cocoa.”

“No, wait!” Jim said, looking alarmed. “Don’t do that, Miss Dora.”

She propped herself back on the desk. “Just why was Clem commiserating himself in a bottle, then?” she asked shrewdly.

“On account of—” Sidney started, only to be interrupted by Jim.

“Because he’d decided to fire you,” Jim said heavily.

Theo gasped; she could not stop herself. “Fire me?”

“The silly sod,” Sidney interjected.

Jim nodded. “He felt like he had no choice. For your own good, like.”

“But why in the name of all that’s holy?” Theo demanded.

Jim hesitated. “You should probably hear it from him,” he said looking troubled.

“How about you prepare me for whatever I’m about to walk into,” Theo replied, steeling herself for a confrontation. “I would consider it a great kindness if you would.”