Nate flashed a brief smile showing bright teeth that had been so popular at parties in London and Leeds.

"Nice to meet you too, Alice. Your sister speaks very highly of you." He said, recalling his earlier conversation on the train. Alice seemed an attractive sort, but in some ways she looked like a faded piece of quality fabric, its colour flat and dull with traces of former beauty. Had living with Toby worn her out already? Poor thing.

"I am..." said Tobias quietly. He knew it was an insult. Of course he knew it. But she could easily say it wasn't if he called her out later. He hated it when she did that. He sat down, looking even more peeved than before.

"Oh..." Alice said in response to her husband. She turned back to Nate, but she smiled shyly and cast her eyes down, for she didn't know how to respond to that. She sat down on the unoccupied sofa. Anne sat down next to her like a bodyguard.

And now there were four people who didn't have anything to say to one another in the room.

"So, Alice. Anne was telling me you two were from Whitby. Do ye miss the sea and the fish?" Nate asked to break the ice

Alice looked up with big eyes, her lips pressed together. She didn't reply immediately and in the silence, Anne's hand reached out to grab hers. But she pulled her hand out of her sister's. She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Aye. Do ye miss the smell of cow dung?" she shot back.

Ouch! Nate had walked right into that barbed comment from his sister-in-law. He smirked slightly. This place was a shit pile, and he wouldn't be here by choice. She was making a good first impression on him.

"It does have a distinctive perfume, doesn't it?" he said.

Tobias was on edge the moment Nathan asked Alice whether she missed home. Wrong topic. "Alice," he said in a low voice in response to her insolent reaction. His brother didn't seem insulted, but he wasn't sure if he liked the reply.

"Please, Nathan, Alice, Anne... have a sandwich..."

If they had their mouths full they couldn't talk.

Alice eyed Nathan suspiciously, but then her face softened and she shrugged. "That's one way to put it," she said, ignoring the invitation.

Anne looked from Alice to Nate to Tobias nervously. She wanted to change the topic but was too shy to speak up, and she didn't know what to say. When Tobias offered the sandwiches, she took that offer with both hands. "Oh, these look lovely. Did Jenny make them?" She didn't care to know, but anything to change the topic and keep Alice from saying something that would put her on the next train home.

Nate nodded, his mouth full of crust. Some intelligible sounds that might have been words were made, as he looked at the women. Anne was alright, Nate liked the girl, he sensed a gentle soul by her words and actions towards this Alice. Alice herself seemed a bit young. What was Tobias thinking? Yet though she seemed trodden, her words suggested she was in fact a low fire, quiet until stoked.

"I was trying to say, these taste good. Well done Jenny." he looked at his brother "I'll only be here for a bit, while I get set up in town with rooms and an office."