She turned her palm into his hand and squeezed back, looking into his eyes and she said, "I am not worried about what society thinks. If Mister Blacke is the brother of Joeseph Blacke, by chance, his family is in the pages of the gazette and I think she would be in good hands. As for me..." She paused and then squeezed again but did not relax her hand for the rest of what she would say.

"It isn't true what they said and you can prove that. In fact, she may very well have been seen by locals in a man's company. I am not fragile like most of the ladies who attend that school. I have nothing to hide and we should not let them have our dignity. Besides, you do know that many servants live for gossip, right? Gossip spreads if it is truly something of this magnitude..."

Those Blackes? In other circumstances that would have improved his opinion of Mr. Blacke. As it was, he didn't care about the soldier. Not right now. His sister wasn't hearing him. He withdrew his hand and got up, his breakfast practically untouched. "I don't give a damn about our dignity. It's violence I worry about. Pack your things. I need to check on Pippa." And with that, he left the kitchen to go pick up supplies from the consulting room.

She stood up and followed him to the other room, her anger boiling over. "If you are so scared, you may go. I will leave this house only since its clear my welcome has been worn out, but I am not running away with my tail between my legs like you want. I am not a coward." She said it in such a tone that brooked arguing at one's own risk, and she did it with her eyes glittering dangerously with her keeping her temper in check. And then she turned on her heel, not caring if he responded, and stormed to her bedroom (if one could do it politely, she did it that way) to get get her few remaining things in the bag she had come with. It would only take her a moment to grab her already packed things and unless Tris blocked her exit, she was gone from the house in the next few moments.

Tristan closed the cupboard he had just opened. It was tempting to argue with her unfair portrayal of the matter, but he held his tongue. The most important thing was that she left, he reasoned. He could reconcile with her later. If it would be long before she'd speak to him again, he could live with that. But he'd never forgive himself if she came to harm. Anyway, he had to focus on Pippa.

But it was almost a full hour before he knocked on the attic door. "Are you awake, Pippa?" he asked quietly.