"They want to lock me away, Harry." Miss Glass clung to Matt's arm. Her face was flushed, her eyes wide as she appealed to him. "You mustn't let them take me."

"I won't," he assured her. "You're home now, Aunt Letitia. You're safe."

"Take me with you, Harry. I've changed my mind. I want to go to the Continent too."

"Who's Harry?" Chronos whispered.

"Matt's father, her brother," Willie said. "She sometimes thinks Matt is him."

"You mean she's barking?"

I shot him a withering glare but he was intent on the scene playing out before him on the sofa and didn't notice. I crouched in front of Miss Glass, took her hand in both of mine, and spoke quietly yet firmly to her. "It's me, Miss Glass. It's all right."

"Veronica?" She glanced around the room. "What are you doing at Harry's place?"

"And who's Veronica?" came Chronos question.

"A maid she once knew," Willie told him.

I turned and gave Chronos the benefit of my fiercest glare. "This is a private matter. Do you mind?"

"Private?" he said. "But you're not family."

"I am her companion." I turned back to Miss Glass, and although I did not see him leave, I heard his retreating footsteps. "Would you like to lie down?" I asked Miss Glass. "Or sit here and have a nice cup of tea to calm your nerves."

"I need an ice." She flapped her hand in front of her face. "It's quite hot in here."

She did look flushed and her breathing was elevated. I frowned at Matt. "Shouldn't she be with Lady Rycroft?"

"With Mama?" Miss Glass shook her head over and over. "You do say the oddest things, Veronica. Mama passed away some years ago."

Matt and I both glanced at the door. "Bristow!" he bellowed.

Miss Glass covered her ears and I gently chastised him. He apologized before asking Bristow how Miss Glass arrived home.

"I don't know," the butler said. "She knocked on the door and was on her own."

"Aunt?" Matt said. "Letitia? Did you walk here?"

"Of course." Miss Glass patted her hair at the back of her head. The carefully arranged curls had dropped and some strands hung loose down her back. "I have no money for an omnibus or hackney. I wouldn't know how to direct one to pick me up anyway. Well, Harry? What do you say? Can I come with you after all?"

She thought she was back in the time before her brother left England, some forty years ago. Apparently he'd offered to take her with him on his travels, but she'd refused, somewhat reluctantly, and had lived a stifled life ever since under the guardianship of her father and then her brother. Even in her advanced years she'd been under the domain of her brother and sister-in-law, Lord and Lady Rycroft, and had rarely been allowed out on her own. It would seem she was re-living those long ago days, perhaps even playing out a different outcome where she did go with Harry to the Continent. It was sad to think she regretted making the decision to stay.

"You can come with me," Matt said gently, holding her hand. "We'll have adventures together."

She smiled at him, her lower lip quivering. "Veronica shall come too."

Peter brought in a tray with tea things and I poured her a cup. She took it with shaking hands and sipped slowly. The familiar ritual seemed to soothe her. No one interrupted as she quietly drank the entire cup and set it down again.

"Aunt Letitia?" Matt asked carefully. "How do you feel?"

She touched the back of her hand to her cheek. "It's very warm in here. Have you got the fire going, Matthew?"

I exchanged a small smile with Matt. He was her nephew again, not her brother. How quickly she changed.

Willie flounced into a chair and expelled a measured breath. "Nice to have you back, Letty."

"Do not put your feet on the table," Miss Glass snapped at her. "This is not a saloon."

"I weren't going to!" Willie grinned.

Miss Glass frowned. "What's got into you? Why are you smiling like a madwoman, Willemina?"

"Guess I'm just happy."

"Well stop it. It's not English to smile like that."

"I ain't English, and we Americans smile like this all the time."

"Where's Aunt Beatrice?" Matt said.

"At home, I expect." Miss Glass frowned at her teacup as if she wasn't sure how it got there. "She took me out."

"Where did you go?"

"Shopping, and then we called on a friend of hers. She used to be a friend of mine too, years ago." She sniffed and turned away to stare into the fireplace. "I cannot abide the woman now. All silly ruffles on her sleeves and a pink flower in her hair. The ruffles and flowers were pretty when she was young, but now they're an embarrassment. She thinks she's still a girl of seventeen having her first season." She tapped her temple. "She's gone quite mad."

The booming voice out in the hall announced the arrival of Lady Rycroft. Bristow tried to inform us but he hadn't even finished saying her name before she barged past him with a click of her tongue. Her three daughters filed in behind her in height order.

"There you are!" Lady Rycroft marched up to her sister-in-law and for one horrid moment I thought she would slap her. She kept her hands by her sides, however, and merely stood like a towering chimney spewing out anger with every huffing breath. "You stupid, ridiculous old woman! How dare you humiliate me like that!"

Patience Glass, the eldest daughter, gasped in horror at her mother's tirade. The middle one, Charity, snickered behind her hand, and the youngest and prettiest, Hope, reddened but remained otherwise unaffected. Her clever gaze hardly lingered on her aunt or mother, however, but took in Matt twice over as if she were drinking in the sight of him after a long absence.

Miss Glass remained surprisingly unaffected by her sister-in-law's outburst. "Whatever do you mean, Beatrice? If anyone is ridiculous it's Penelope. Did you see that flower in her hair? At her age? I couldn't abide her company for another moment."

"So you took it upon yourself to leave?" Beatrice screeched. "Without informing anyone and leaving me wondering where you'd gone? Are you inconsiderate as well as mad?"

"Aunt Beatrice," Matt warned. "Compose yourself."

He didn't need to concern himself on behalf of his Aunt Letitia. Miss Glass was quite capable of standing up for herself these days. Living with him and not her brother had given her confidence. She and I were alike in that regard. "Don't pretend to care about my wellbeing, Beatrice."

"Of course I care!" Lady Rycroft snapped. "Rycroft would blame me for your disappearance."

"Well, it was you who dragged me to see Penelope when you know what she did to me." Miss Glass's voice faded into a choke that had me frowning at her. What had this Penelope done to her to not only make her want to walk home alone but also given her a turn?

"What did she do to you?" Hope asked. As the most brazen of the three, I wasn't surprised she spoke up. Patience was far too shy, and Charity had lost interest in the discussion already and was busy trying to catch Cyclops's attention.

Cyclops edged further away. He might flee altogether if she dared to do anything more than stare.

"Aunt Letitia should not have had to make her own way home," Matt said. "Why was she unaccompanied?"

Lady Rycroft straightened, emphasizing her height. "That is entirely the point, Matthew. Why was she unaccompanied when she has a companion?" She looked pointedly at me.

It was difficult to put on a defiant face when I felt guilty.

"India had work to do for me today." Matt's lie rolled easily off his tongue.

"India is not my full-time companion," Miss Glass added. "I share her with Matthew." She clasped my hand as I'd clasped hers earlier. "As to whose fault it was, it was mine alone. I decided to leave. The blame rests with no one else."

Of all the people in that room who could have responded, it was Willie who got in first. "You weren't in your right mind when you got back, Letty. You sure you even knew where you were?" No one got to the heart of a matter like Willie.

"Of course I knew," Miss Glass retorted. "We were visiting Penelope. I don't like her so I left."

"You thought someone was chasing you, wanting to lock you up."

"She ought to be locked up," Lady Rycroft muttered.

The three Glass girls repeated their responses of before—Patience gasped, Charity snickered, and Hope's cheeks reddened. Hope glanced at her mother, one of the few times she'd looked away from Matt.

"Would you like to stay for tea?" Matt asked.

Sometimes I could throttle him.

Hope smiled. "That would be—"

"No," Lady Rycroft said. The room itself seemed to heave with the collective sighs of relief. "The day has been long enough. Letitia, the girls and I leave soon for Rycroft House to prepare for Patience's wedding. You will come with us. Pack all of your things. It has been decided that you will not return to London. The best place for you—"

"I beg your pardon!" Miss Glass said. Her voice may be frail but she managed to instill as much majesty into it as the queen. "I am not going to travel with you, and I am not staying at that moldy old place. I am staying right here and will only travel with Matthew when the time comes."

"Don't be absurd. You love the estate. You're just being difficult to vex me."

"My aunt is not going with you unless she wants to," Matt said. "If my uncle is unhappy with that arrangement, he can speak to me. Is that clear?"

Lady Rycroft's nostrils flared. She was settling in for battle. "She will do as her brother sees fit."

"No." There was a solidness to that single word; an immovability that could not be swept aside. Matt had no intention of giving in.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said no." He stood and held out his hand in the direction of the exit. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm a busy man. Please pass on my regards to my uncle."

Lady Rycroft quivered with anger, making her double chins shake. "You are as stubborn as your father."

"Thank you."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Consider your family, Matthew. Consider the damage her embarrassing turns can do to our reputation. I was humiliated today in front of my friend. What if Penelope tattles? What if Letitia has another turn?"

"Then do not take her out again. The solution is quite simple."

"She needs to be somewhere she will be well cared for, to stop her running off and saying things to our friends."

"She does not run off when she's here. Don't," he added in a low tone when she opened her mouth again. "Do not say another word on this subject. Is that clear?"

Her jaw tensed, and if her eyes narrowed any further they'd close altogether. "Come, girls."

Hope and Charity followed their mother out, but Patience remained. She was the last of the three I expected to defy her mother. She bent down to Miss Glass and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you for the wedding gift," she said softly. "It's lovely."

"That's quite all right, dear," Miss Glass said. "Run along now or your mother will explode."

Patience turned to go but did an extraordinary thing. She caught my hand and dragged me alongside her. "I need to tell you something," she whispered.

I looked at her but she kept her gaze directly ahead. She walked slowly so as not to catch up to her mother, now waiting at the front door.

"Do you remember that ill-mannered fellow who burst into our dinner party here that night?" she asked.

"Sheriff Payne?" I said. "Yes, why?"

"Hope spoke with him yesterday."

I stopped and stared at her. We were alone, Matt having gone ahead to speak to his Aunt Beatrice, and I was grateful. Patience could not have said anything more shocking. "Why? How did she even know where to find him?"

"My sisters and I were out walking and spotted him loitering outside our house upon our return. Charity and I wanted nothing to do with him, but Hope confronted him. They spoke for several minutes and her expression changed from irate to curious. When she rejoined us, I asked what he wanted and she claimed it was nothing. I didn't believe her."

"Patience!" Lady Rycroft called. "What are you talking about?"

I squeezed her hand and whispered, "Thank you."

She gave me a smile and joined her mother and sisters. Lady Rycroft clicked her tongue at the delay. If Hope suspected her sister had spoken to me about her she did not let on. The girls followed their mother out like sheep.

Matt shut the door after they left. "I tried to distract my aunt for you as you spoke to Patience. It didn't work for long."

"Never mind," I said. "She managed to say what she needed to. Matt, she told me something quite unnerving." I glanced into the drawing room. Miss Glass was still there with Willie, Duke and Cyclops. I couldn't say this in front of her. We were quite alone in the entrance hall, however, so I sidled closer to him. "Patience told me that Hope spoke with Sheriff Payne yesterday."

"What?" His explosive whisper was loud enough to draw Duke's attention. He frowned at us but did not join us.

I took Matt's arm and directed him to the staircase, out of sight of the drawing room altogether. I did not want Miss Glass suspecting a thing. "Patience said they saw him outside their house and Hope confronted him." I filled him in on the rest, brief as it was.

He leaned an arm on the newel post and raked his hand through his hair. He needed to rest now, not worry about this. I wish I hadn't told him.

"We'll discuss it later," I said, giving him a little shove. "It can wait."

"I'd rather discuss it now."

"But—"

"Don't, India." It was the same stern tone he'd used with Lady Rycroft. He must have realized because his face softened and he touched the tips of my fingers. "I'm fine, and I want to talk about it now."

"What's going on?" Duke asked from the drawing room doorway.

Matt let go of my fingers and told Duke what Patience had said.

"Payne!" Duke swore. "What's that snake up to now?"

"Fishing for information about me," Matt suggested. "He wrongly suspects that my family will know my weaknesses and perhaps my movements."

It sounded plausible but I wasn't convinced. An observant person would know he rarely visited his titled relations. Perhaps that's what Payne was doing—observing. Perhaps he'd learned that the Rycrofts could tell him nothing.

"Then why did Hope talk to him for so long when she knows nothing?" I asked. "Why did she talk to him at all? She saw the way he barged into our dinner party, and how you threw him out, Matt. She must know you despise him. And yet she did not send Payne on his way. Instead, she conversed with him and sported a curious look on her face, according to Patience. To me, that means one thing—he told her something about you, not the other way around. Something that intrigued her."

Duke sat on the second lowest step and swore again. "This ain't good, Matt. What lies is he spreading now?"

"She did look at you rather oddly today," I said. "Very intensely, as if she were trying to gauge something about you."

"I noticed too," Duke said. "I thought it was because she liked him and her mother's trying to marry them off."

"That was my first thought too," I admitted.

Matt looked at me through his lashes.

"He must have told her about the crimes he reckons you committed," Duke said with a shake of his head. "He wants to cause a rift between you and your family. Too bad for him there already is one."

Matt nodded slowly, deep in thought. I sat beside Duke on the step, a little awkwardly thanks to my corset and bustle, and considered the possibilities and whether we should confront Hope. It might work. Perhaps Matt could charm answers from her.

"Why would Patience betray her sister?" That was Matt's question?

"Because I suspect Hope is awful to her," I said with a shrug. "Perhaps this is her way of evening the score after a lifetime of living in the shadow of her prettier, more vivacious younger sister."

He lifted his brows. "It's hardly Hope's fault that she's prettier."

"Lady Rycroft makes sure Hope's sisters know she is the favored daughter. Hope isn't the sort of girl who lets them forget it. I know you think I'm doing her a disservice, but I don't think I am. Patience's reasons for tattling don't concern me, anyway. What does concern me is that Hope has seen you use your watch, Matt. She knows your secret."

He signaled for me to move along the step. I made space for him and he sat, sandwiching me between both men.

"She can't possibly know what it means," he said. "Not even her wildest guesses would come close to the truth."

"Payne also knows that watch is important to you," Duke said. "He tried to steal it."

"Again, he doesn't know its true function."

"He saw the glow in the coach once," I said. "If he knows about magic, he might guess."

Matt shook his head. "You're both scaremongering. Hope is my cousin. She won't betray me." He stood and headed up the stairs, taking two at a time. He quickly disappeared from sight.

Duke sighed and leaned back on his elbows. "He's not doing so good, India."

"I know," I said quietly. "His health is one problem, but the state of his mind is another. He's under enormous strain, and now he has to worry about Payne getting to his family. He may not like them, but he would feel responsible if something happened to one of them."

"Aye."

I had a thought and turned to Duke. His friendly, blocky face looked back expectantly. "What if we're wrong and Payne isn't looking for information about Matt or trying to spread nasty rumors? What if he's trying to seduce Hope?"

He sat up suddenly. Then he burst out laughing. "Good luck to him."

"Duke! I'm serious. Matt would feel responsible for her wellbeing."

"That girl can take care of herself. Imagine if they wed. It'd solve all our problems. Payne would be saddled with a sneaky little miss, and Hope'll be tied to a man who'll wind up in jail sooner or later. They deserve each other."

"You forget one thing. The daughter of a British aristocrat won't marry an American sheriff. But he can ruin her."

* * *

Dr. Ritter was as happy to see us as I expected. That is, not at all. A nurse at the London Hospital escorted us to his office, unaware that we knew our way, and announced us when the principal doctor invited her in.

His heavy brow descended into a thunderous scowl. "What do you two want?"

The nurse wisely scuttled away before Dr. Ritter could admonish her.

"You were once the master of the Worshipful Company of Surgeons," Matt said, using the guild's formal title.

"So?" Dr. Ritter was as old as Chronos but, like my grandfather, he was hail and hardy. He wasn't a big man, but he had a strong presence with his thick gray beard and a verdant set of eyebrows that commanded attention.

"So Miss Steele and I are undertaking a new investigation into an old murder. The victim was a member of the guild at the time you were master."

He sat back in his chair, all the bluster knocked out of him.

"I'm referring to Dr. Millroy," Matt added.

Dr. Ritter did not look surprised. "Why are you making inquiries now? What has it got to do with you?"

"Police Commissioner Munro is pleased with the number of murder cases we've solved. He asked us to re-open this one in the hope of finding the killer." Mentioning a name and rank was designed to impress Dr. Ritter and make our visit seem more official. It was impossible to tell if the tactic worked. Dr. Ritter still looked stunned.

"There must be dozens of unsolved murders in the city," he said. "Why this one?"

Matt merely shrugged one shoulder. "Why don't you ask Commissioner Munro?"

Matt approached the desk and pulled out a chair for me. Dr. Ritter blinked stupidly at us, as if he couldn't quite believe this was happening to him again. He had every reason to be wary of us. While he hadn't been involved in Dr. Hale's murder, our investigation had uncovered his attempts to profit from the illegal sale of Hale's medicines. It would seem the hospital's board had not yet removed him as principal. Another scandal could force their hand.

"I can see from your reaction that you recall Dr. Millroy," Matt said as he settled into the chair. He took a few moments to look around the office at the bookshelves crammed with medical texts, the framed degree from Cambridge, sketches and documents stacked loosely on the desk surface. He seemed comfortable in his role of interrogator, and completely in command. "Tell me what you know about Dr. Millroy's death," he went on.

"Nothing," Dr. Ritter spat. "It was so long ago…I can hardly recall the particulars."

"Tell me what you do recall."

Dr. Ritter's gaze slipped to me. "In front of a lady? I think not."

"Don't mind me," I said, removing my notepad and pencil from my reticule. "I'm used to gruesome details. As Mr. Glass said, we've worked together to solve a number of murders for the police. Nothing you say will shock me, but I appreciate your concern."

Dr. Ritter sighed, perhaps seeing no way out. Yet another mention of the police seemed to do the trick, too. "I didn't find out about Dr. Millroy's death until I read about it in the newspaper like everyone else. Naturally I was shocked and saddened. He was an excellent doctor, by all accounts, and a member of the guild when I was its master."

"An active member?" Matt asked.

"Not particularly, but few are. There are only so many Court of Assistants positions to fill."

"You say he was an excellent doctor," I said. "How do you know?"

"Certain members get certain reputations. I hear about them, both good and bad. The medical field is a small one, Miss Steele, particularly at my level. Dr. Millroy was highly sought after by some very elite patients."

As were many magicians in their respective trades. Mr. Pitt the magician apothecary also had customers from the upper classes. Of course, he'd lost them all now and was in danger of losing his life if a jury found him guilty of killing Dr. Hale.

"That's why it's odd that he was killed in a slum." Dr. Ritter wrinkled his nose as if he could smell the unwashed in the poorest areas of London. "He couldn't have been seeing a patient there."

"Perhaps he offered his services gratis," Matt said.

Dr. Ritter snorted. "Not Millroy. It's more likely he was simply lost and a local criminal took advantage."

"Do you know anything about a diary he kept on him?" Matt asked.

"No. I told you, I didn't know him well."

"But you did know that he experimented on a sick man who subsequently died."

Dr. Ritter's throat worked but no words came out.

"You confronted Dr. Millroy over his part in the vagrant's death," Matt went on.

"How did you find out about that?" Dr. Ritter finally asked.

"The police told me."

Dr. Ritter thumped his fist on the desk, making my nerves jump. My pencil drew a crooked line across the page. "This is absurd. I had nothing to do with Dr. Millroy's death."

"How did you learn about the experiment on the vagrant? I doubt Dr. Millroy admitted it to you or to anyone in your guild."

Dr. Ritter smoothed his hand over the leather cover of a large medical text on the desk. "His wife came to see me. She told me as much as she knew about the experiment."

It wasn't clear whether she mentioned magic to him, or if he knew of its existence and involvement in the case. I doubted Matt would ask directly, although I thought it a good idea. A direct question drew more direct answers. But his thoughts on the matter were very different to mine.

At least we had the source of the information now. "Why would she betray her husband?" I said to Matt.

It was Dr. Ritter who answered, however. "Women tend to tattle. He was foolish to entrust her with the information."

"I beg to differ. Women are as capable of keeping secrets as men. She had a reason for coming to you, Dr. Ritter. Do you know what it is?"

"Of course not. A woman's mind is unfathomable."

"For some men, certainly." I wanted to ask him if he was married and whether his wife would ever take harmful information about him to his superiors but decided against it.

"Do you know who might have benefited from Dr. Millroy's death?" Matt asked. "A rival, perhaps, or an heir?"

"He had no rivals that I knew of, but he was an excellent doctor with a list of wealthy and influential patients. That sort of success breeds envy. As to an heir, I believe he had no children. I assume his wife is his beneficiary." Dr. Ritter got to his feet and indicated the door. "Do you mind? You're keeping me from my sick patients."

I led the way out but Matt paused in the doorway. "One other thing. Did Mrs. Millroy happen to mention Dr. Millroy kept a mistress who bore him an illegitimate son?"

"What?" Dr. Ritter said on a laugh. "Is this a joke?"

"No."

"Of course she never mentioned it, and no, I did not know. How could I?"

Matt walked beside me back through the hospital's warren of corridors and wards. We did not speak until we breathed the cloying air outside.

"Are we going to visit Mrs. Millroy now?" I asked as we descended the front steps.

"After we make a diversion," Matt said.

"Where to?"

"I want to see where Dr. Millroy died." He opened the carriage door for me and folded the step down. "Do you think you can manage it, India? It's not in a good area."

"Of course. I'm hardly a snowflake that'll melt at the first sign of heat." I gathered up my skirts and took his offered hand.

Matt smiled and gave Duke directions to the crime scene. It was in Whitechapel, not far from where the Ripper murders had taken place a mere twenty months ago. I clutched my reticule to my chest. The solid shape of my watch inside was a comfort. We might need it.