"It does." said Ben. "I hope you managed to catch up on some sleep?" He was basically waiting for Alice to be done and leave the room.

"Oh yes, I slept fine. It was truly no trouble." Elijah smiled as he patiently waited for the tea.

Alice brought the tea and then receded to the other room like a ghost, closing the door behind her.

Elijah watched her go and sighed feeling badly for her before turning back to Ben. "I really hope you aren't being too hard on her." He sipped the tea quietly and carefully.

"I'm not..." Ben said, staring into the fireplace. "But I don't now her anymore, and she's given us a lot of trouble." He took out his pipe.

Elijah sighed. "It isn't like she has a long series of this. It's only happened since she met Noah right? I'm sure it's because of what happened. She won't be herself for a while, but that doesn't mean she isn't your daughter and doesn't deserve your support."

"She lied to me... even when we were in Goathland, and Anne..." Ben said bitterly. "She told me she had stolen the money to see a doctor, but when I asked her yesterday who the doctor was, she wouldn't tell. They wouldn't say anything, and it took forever before I managed to force the truth out of 'er. I raised my daughter decently, and instead she turns out a harlot. And then it turns out she's a thief and a liar as well." He pressed his tobacco into his pipe a little too fiercely.

Elijah frowned. "Ben! A harlot is far too much. She liked a boy and didn't know better. Do not mistake her for a girl wandering the streets to pick up random boys. This is why she lied and tried to run away. You are treating her so badly. And Anne desperately tried to protect her. You must be easier on her. I already offered to try to help her work to make the money back up to you. But you won't accept that. If she is not given a chance to move forward after learning from her mistake, then what's the point?"

"It's not about the money!" Ben said. "She knew better than to sleep with a man that was not her husband. I can't believe one of my own children would do such a thing. But then to try and cover up, at the cost of what little dignity she had left, at the cost of that bairn...." He took a deep breath. "She's lucky if she can get any match now."

Alice sat on the bed in the other room. The walls were thin and she could hear every word. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, resting her head on her knees. All day long, she had listened to men in the other room discussing her actions and her future, and Alice began to think that it would have been better if Anne had left her for dead on the moors.