That would probably have been one of the triplets or Magnus, she thought with a grimace. How much should she disclose, she thought warily? Her eyes were half-closed for a moment as she contemplated just what on earth to tell the man. She didn't want to make things worse, after all, but had a feeling that it would get worse before it got better. "Regardless of whether you tried to talk to my family or not, I am afraid your article has caused... quite a stir in my family." She actually looked tired, resigned even.

Gareth observed her. "A stir, you say? Well, I figured they wouldn't like it...."

"If I speak to you candidly, sir, and if I give you a lead on another story, you will keep me anonymous and I was never here, won't you please? You've stumbled into a hornet's nest, see. Not of my making, mind, but..." She paused and sighed, "My siblings are much more interesting than I am in the worst kinds of ways... Namely my eldest brother, Magnus." She paused again for effect. The worst part of this was, she wasn't even making this up.

"But I warn you, any information that I have given you can lead you into a rabbit hole of danger. When I say you ought to be careful, sir, I do not say it lightly."

Gareth watched her with a mixture of eager interest and concern. This all sounded very juicy, but he didn't like the notion of actual danger. Still, this was all too tempting. He could always decide later not to publish any of it. "I may not be a fancy Times reporter, Miss Carrington, and I may write... from a certain perspective, but I assure you -,"

There was a whistle coming from the kitchen, increasing in noise. "One moment."

Gareth disappeared into the kitchen and returned half a minute with two cups of tea which he set in front of Pearl and Tilly. Then he sat down into the chair he had been leaning on. He leaned towards the young lady, resting his forearms on his thighs. "I assure you, I do take my responsibilities as a journalist seriously and protect my sources when requested."

"Thank you," both she and Tilly said in unison when presented with the tea. She was about to spill tea, alright. She waited for him to sit again and for his word. She nodded when he did so, and then sipped her tea as it was, her fingers trembling a little to give away her trepidation on what she was about to reveal. She wasn't acting, that would be very clear. The girl had bruises under her eyes, indicating a lack of sleep for what she had been enduring since her brother brought the article to her attention.

"Well, I was away at finishing school... and one of my sisters was being courted and planning a wedding, when her fiance mysteriously disappeared. Because she was beside herself with grief over this loss, she has been out of her mind with it. I decided to hire a man to seek answers, as I am a mere woman and doors won't open for me the way they would for a man." She sighed and looked down at her cup. "This was after I returned home, of course. But I digress... The man I paid for answers came back to me eventually, but not the answers I sought. My oldest brother, Magnus, seems to be elbows deep in something involving a brothel, he seems to be doing nefarious things behind closed doors, and I mean beyond his dealings with the courtesans. He's become a very angry man as of late... Tilly, you tell him what you know."

Tilly, whose tea was untouched thus far, set her lips into a grim line and a little bit of surprise that her mistress wanted her to speak. "I was at the manor one day when one of the maids came rushing out of Master Magnus' quarters, and there in her arms was soiled laundry. Bloody laundry... She saw me and froze. We stared at each other for a moment, and then she hurried on passed me, refusing to meet me eyes."

Gareth was simultaneously fascinated and repulsed, and both increasingly, as he listened. He sat entirely still, still leaning forward, his eyes the only thing that moved, shifting from Pearl to Tilly. "How much blood...?" he asked. "It may have been a courtesan's menses, for all we know."

For all the sensationalist writing Gareth did, he was surprisingly level headed. He might suggest the worst in his writings, but he would exclude all other options before he believed it himself.

"Tweren't menses, sir," she said with certainty. She was a woman, after all, and nobody had more authority on periods than women who had to suffer them. "There were splatters all over the shirt. It looked like Mister Magnus had gotten into some sort of trouble."

"There is more still," said Pearl softly, "Go on, Tilly."

"Well, I also overheard one of the other maids telling someone of a woman hiding from Magnus out of fear for what he would do to her and the baby she is apparently carrying that belongs to him. I do not know if it truly is his child, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if she truly was afraid for her life."

Pearl pressed her lips together grimly for a moment. Her family needed to be brought down off of their high pedestal. She knew that if it ever came out that she was the one who set the bell tolling, her family would never forgive her... They needed to know there were consequences to their actions. "My kidnapping happened fast and ended just as fast. I ought not to have been out on the beach alone that night, but it wasn't as dramatic as you made it out to be. I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts as to what I came home to. Another of my many brothers attacked me verbally over this; in short, I have nothing to lose but my independence, which I risk in just being here." She sighed.

"If saving lives means I might lose my independence, then so be it. That alone should tell you something, Mister Scott."

Gareth sat back and watched the two thoughtfully. He didn't know what to make of all this. There were two basic options. Either she was speaking the truth, or she was not speaking the truth. If the latter, she might simply be crazy. It would not be that strange, with all that had happened to her, and it would explain her need for independence. But it didn't explain why both of them confirmed the story. Another possibility was that she was purposely lying to him. She might want him to write such a thing in the newspaper to watch him to undermine his own career, and probably have her family sue him for libel.

Or she was speaking the truth, in which case Gareth wasn't sure he wanted a part of it. If this Magnus Carrington was some crazy sociopath who made people 'disappear'... well, then he could make Gareth disappear as well. The man should be investigated and arrested certainly. But Gareth wasn't that keen on being part of that adventure. He was bold on paper, but not so much in real life.

He reached out to pick up his glass of whiskey and sat back again, letting the drink spin in his glass. "I was just doing my job, Miss Carrington. I can hardly be held responsible for your family's response... Tell me though, if you and several servants know of your brother's nefarious dealings, why haven't you gone to the police?"

She sighed and set her tea down. "I can see you're not understanding. Perhaps I am just wasting my time after all," she said with a quaver in her voice. The poor girl looked like she was about to start crying. "I came to you because I don't have a voice. You seem to think you know my voice enough to have written about me."

Gareth frowned. "Well... what is it you want from me, Miss? Surely I cannot write in the paper that your brother is some lunatic mass murderer? Your family will have me in court for libel by tomorrow."