Alice peered at the woman with narrow mistrusting eyes as she defended herself and explained her meaning, her body language showing that she believed little of what she was told. But then when Mrs. Carpenter got up and simply took her leave, she scowled. Tobias would always argue back. He'd shout, he'd threaten, he'd order her to her room when she'd still leave it, he'd take things away to punish her. He'd always react. Jenny would beg and crawl or tell her she'd have to inform Mr. Appleton.

Nobody just walked away. Alice felt both offended and - to her own surprise and frustration - a little remorseful.

Yet she did not call out to stop the woman. Instead, she lay back, curled up on her side and pulled the blanket over her head.

She'd soon die tragically anyway.

As soon as Iris was in the corridor, Tobias came out of his own bedroom. "And?" he asked with a concerned frown.

She took a deep breath and expelled it more swiftly than intended. Her eyes narrowed in on Tobias though and she pressed her lips together. "It's none of my affair what goes on between the two of you... But I will NOT stand for being accused of being with you. I had better find another place to go... I... I will stay until you find another to take my place." She was indignant but there was also the fact that she couldn't look him in the eye at the moment. She wished he would see her for more than just the wet nurse and she didn't know whether she was indigent at that fact that someone saw her attraction enough to toss an accusation, or the fact that she was attracted at all.

"Wha-," Dear God. Did Alice ever stop? He looked at her with a mixture of indignance and embarrassment. "Look, Mrs. Carpenter, I'm very sorry that ye were insulted. But she's sick in the head. Ye mustn't mind what she's saying. Nobody does." He did. She did get under his skin half the time. "Please reconsider."

"It isn't just her," she bleated out, then she lowered her voice, "I love Emma. I shouldn't, but I do. I should distance myself before... before..." she paused and let out a shuddering breath... "Before it's too late. And I wouldn't be this indignant if I didn't wish for a moment that I had what Mrs. Appleton had." And with that, she was on the edge of the cliff and had one foot aloft. Her mouth curled downward in a pained frown.

This wasn't what she wanted, but she was on the edge.

His features softened a little with understanding, though he was still frustrated. But it made sense. She had lost her baby. How could she not cling to someone else's. And Alice not wanting her own was probably only making it more difficult. "I understand," he quietly yielded. There was no choice. "I'm sorry that this situation should have brought you fresh pain, Mrs. Carpenter. For Emma's sake, I'll gladly accept your offer to stay on until we find someone else. We will not trouble you longer than necessary."

She looked at him sadly and murmured, "I am sorry it has to be this way. I... I am sorry that things weren't different." She looked down and bit her lip. She was going to write a letter to him later explaining what the extent of things were, but she would not hand it to him. He would find it later, she thought, but by then it would have already been too late. Iris then gazed at him again and sighed, "I would rather I be the one to hurt and not Emma." Her words were so soft that it was hard to hear, but not so hard that he wouldn't hear it at all.

That caused his eyebrows to draw together again with concern. He stared at her, trying to get a good look at her face in the dim lit corridor. "Ye mustn't say that, Mrs. Carpenter," he said quietly. "Ye've been hurt quite enough." Quite a lot more, he suspected, than she had openly related. "Emma's but a wee bairn. She wouldn't know the diff-," Oh. That was probably not the right thing to say. He put a hand on her arm. "Ye look tired, Mrs. Carpenter. Church and..." he gestured at the closed door, "must have exhausted ye. Go have some rest. Things might look better after some rest."

She was tired in the most emotional sense that she could feel, but she wouldn't say that out loud. She had some thinking to do and a clear head with which to do it. Iris nodded and then said, "I agree. Thank you, Mr. Appleton." And after a moment of hesitation, she quit the room. She had to look for some kind of employment now, she thought, but that would have to wait until after a nap.