Why was he tested like this on a daily basis? He had never possessed his father's endless patience and civility or his brother's talent for diplomacy. And stress brought out the worst in him, be it temper or petulance. He took a deep breath, trying to retain his cool, for Pippa's sake more than for his meddling sister's.

"Do you think so poorly of me, indeed? I know my flaws and weaknesses, Nel, but I've never found cruelty to be among them. Do you believe I could have worked in an asylum and suffered my patients to be abused for years? Those places are not what they once were. I would never place Pippa in a situation where she might come to harm. That is exactly why I want her to go. She cannot stay here. I cannot keep on a maid that cannot work and she needs more care than you or I can offer. It would be far crueler not to have her admitted."

"I wonder with how I've heard you talking to her," she said pointedly. She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin a notch. "And, might I add, it's not even about not trusting you as it is about not trusting others. You don't spend time with her the same as I do, and she is sweet and soft, and caring, and loving... She doesn't deserve cruelty. She is mourning her family for just that, cruelty, and regardless of it being true or not in reality, its true for her!" He may never have seen her look as upset as she did in that moment, but she was very much so. "

That was a slap in the face. "How you've heard me talking to her? And how exactly have you heard me talking to her, Nel?" He drew a deep breath and looked around as if the books or the chairs or the curtains might agree with him that his sister was being completely unreasonable.

"You get very testy sometimes and I know that's what it is. Sometimes you get a little too harsh toward her. All I know is she loves you even still, the way I love you, like you are her brother... And she lets you say things now just because she's become more withdrawn over the last weeks since she met that John fellow," she paused and then gave a thoughtful look. "She has not said anything that you said, only that you wanted to meet him and she had come to you instead of spending the night with him and she feels as though she can't seem to do right anymore."

Tristan drew another deep breath. How could his sister be so... unreasonable? "I took her in, even though she knew nothing about housekeeping, because I felt sorry for her. I made it clear, no followers, and she went above and beyond disobeying that order. Anyone would have sacked her on the spot when they learned she was pregnant, but I did not, again, because I felt sorry for her. I went so far as to buy a gun because she told me she was in danger. And yet she herself would go out and put herself at risk, disappear for hours - which alone would have been a reason for any employer to sack her for slacking off of work - and drinking with strange fellows. If I have reprimanded her, it is because I worry about her. Because like most well-educated young ladies, she was taught nothing useful about the real world." If is sounded like that statement had more than one application, it was because more than one was intended.

"Ah, and yet you are a peer of these people you are about to send her to and did not recognize her illness for what it was for many months now," she snapped at him. "But yes, blame it all solely on her. How can she trust you with the truth if you don't listen to her when she tells it? I may be one of those 'well educated' ladies you just spoke of, but at least I know when not to yell at somebody when there is clearly something wrong. Frankly, brother, you have become somebody I barely know anymore." She then turned on her heel to start for the kitchen, then paused, shaking her head.

"I'm going to make some soup, I got a recipe that will help I hope. I'm taking a page out of her book and teaching myself things I should know instead of the waltz, don't you think? Also, perhaps you should tell that man who offered for her hand you intend to have her locked away for a time." And that was her cool dismissal. Mind you, he had a chance to speak if he wanted, she had decided that she'd had enough of the nonsense and wasn't about to take it. Him following her would see to him witnessing her angrily setting things up.

A grimace passed over his face, as if her words physically hit him and caused a sudden, sharp pain, when she pointed out that he had missed Pippa's condition for months. He felt it. He had felt it, as soon as he had realized what was going on. But he was too agitated with his sister to admit it - or to really listen or respond to anything she said after. He merely stepped out of her way and let her storm off.

Then he began to pace. Who did Penelope think she was? Showing up unannounced, long outstaying her welcome, meddling in the affairs of his household and now this?! He half expected she'd have the locks changed, the next time he went out! It was high time he got married and set up an own home to run, instead of taking over his! Was this why she had left Newcastle? Had her brother actually let her go from her former position? Perhaps she'd been telling Silas how to run his business! Probably he thought she was an expert at that as well!

When he had gotten some of that out of his system with angry self-talk, he remembered the short letter and the very errand he had started the conversation with. The last thing he wanted to do now was go out and deal with more facets of this complicated case. He'd be perfectly happy to retreat and play hermit in his bedroom for the next week or so. He'd probably sleep for most of that time. But he knew something would have to happen about Pippa very soon, and the more he knew, the better he could decide what that was. If this was a hoax or worse, well, he'd smoke them out soon enough, and Pippa would never need to be disturbed about that at least. If it was not, who knew... He'd have to tread carefully either way. And that meant certainly not telling his sister what his errand was about. He was sure she'd have a volume's worth of opinions on that was well.

Actually, that was probably why she wasn't married with a home of her own yet, was his churlish reflection.

He returned to his study, pocketed the missive and put the letter he had been writing away in a drawer. Then he went downstairs to his practice, picked up a small bottle, put on his hat and coat in the hallway and reluctantly made his way to the kitchen. He managed to enter with a calm and civil air, although he felt the tension in his body. He placed the bottle on the kitchen table and spoke with the same civil detachment: "I will not be long, but if Pippa should wake up in distress and she cannot calm down, put one drop of this in a handkerchief and let her breathe it in."

"Of course," she said tersely, not looking at him but she listened as she chopped onions the way she had been shown but slower. She was clearly very angry with him but he wouldn't need to worry that she wasn't listening.