Tears streaked her face and she collapsed into his outstretched arms in a heaving sob.

“Good Lord, Christa! What has happened?” Elias choked, pulling his friend to her feet. He looked about the narrow street, expecting to see someone on her trail but there was no one but the usual passersby going about their daily business.

“My life is ruined!” Christiana wailed. “It is over!”

“Hush now,” Elias told her worriedly, steering her stumbling form inside. His parents were in the shop and for that, Elias was grateful. He did not wish them to see Christiana in such hysterics. They already had a lowly opinion of his childhood companion and he did not need to fuel their distaste.

“I cannot!” Christiana moaned. “I must leave Peterborough, Elias. I am damned!”

“Lower your voice,” Elias told her with soothing exasperation. Her shrill tones could carry easily in house and he did not want the servants to overhear whatever it was this time with Christiana. The scene was commonplace enough, after all, the young woman running to his home with some woe or another and as she had since they were mere children. Elias would simply placate her until she was no longer a sobbing mess.

“I cannot!” she howled. “My life is…”

She buried her face into her hands and shook her dark hair so that the strands fell about her round face in a mess of tangles. She looked as though she had not slept in days.

“Come along,” he told her, guiding her into the front room to sit upon the settee as he fetched her a glass of sherry.

Eagerly, Christiana took it with trembling hands, downing it in one smooth gulp before nodding toward it, signaling for another.

Dear Lord, Elias thought, gritting his teeth. If I return her home drunk, I will never hear the end of it.

“Perhaps you should tell me what the matter is before I indulge you with another.” He sat by her side on the sofa. As she turned toward him, her face was waxen.

“You will loathe me,” she moaned. “You will dismiss me as quickly as the townsfolk when you hear of this.”

“Christa,” he sighed. “I have been your friend since we were wee. I have seen you through some trying affairs and yet I still remain, do I not?”

“This is quite different, Elias. This is…” She sobbed again and Elias produced a handkerchief from his breast pocket for her to dab her eyes.

“I will not know if you do not tell me,” he cajoled gently. “Surely you came here because you trust I am your friend.”

She looked up at him with glazed eyes, horror below their surface.

“I have sprained my ankle, Elias.”

He reeled backward as though she had physically struck him and gasped in shock.

“Christiana!” he rasped. “Are you certain?”

She lowered her gaze and nodded shamefully.

“I am.”

Rage replaced the surprise and Elias leapt to his feet, his face growing hot with fury.

“Who is this dastardly urchin?” he yelled, forgetting his desire to keep the conversation quiet. “Tell me who he is and I will see him do right by you!”

“You cannot,” Christiana moaned.

“Does he know?” Elias demanded and she shook her head miserably.

“You must tell him, Christa. For all you know, he will marry you well before anyone knows you are with child.”

“I cannot tell him,” she mumbled and blood pumped through Elias’ veins like lava.

“This is not the time to entrench yourself in pity, Christiana. What will you do without a father for the child? You will be ridiculed, condemned.”

“You think I do not know that?” she mewled. “I am well aware.”

“You give me his name at once. I will see him do right by you!”

“He is gone, Elias. He left with town with another woman.”

“Tarnation!”

She dropped her head again and for the first time remained quiet as tears silently zigzagged down her cheeks.

Slowly, Elias returned to sit at her side and wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“You must not fret now, Christa,” he told her with more confidence than he felt. “All will be well.”

“What is the meaning of this now?” Rose Compton snapped, stalking into the front room, pulling her gloves from her hands as she glared at the two. “This is inappropriate, Elias. I need not tell you that!”

At his side, Christiana tensed but Elias did not remove his arm of comfort from her shoulders.

She is my friend, he reminded himself. Since childhood. She is the closest I have to a sister and she is in trouble. I cannot turn her away.

“I was leaving, Mrs. Compton,” Christiana murmured, wiping the tears from her face as she moved, but Elias rose with her.

“We are happy you are here, Mother,” Elias told Rose. “Christa and I have an announcement.”

Christiana’s face was nearly ashen as she stared at him in disbelief.

“N-no,” she gasped but he squeezed her hand gently to reassure her, keeping his eyes fixed upon his mother’s annoyed face.

“What announcement would that be?” Rose asked coldly.

“We are getting married. Immediately.”

Both women choked and coughed but Elias did not falter.

“You will ruin your life binding yourself to this wench!” Rose howled. “I forbid it!”

“You have no say in the matter, Mother,” Elias assured her, casting Christiana a sidelong look. “The matter is done.”

“She is with child!” Rose breathed with realization, her hand over her heart as she began to swoon.

“She is with my child,” he conceded.

As the door to Joshua’s chambers swung inward, Elias opened his eyes, the memory of that fateful day fading yet leaving a melancholy taste to linger.

“You remained!” Joshua cried, appearing very relieved. “I feared that Miss Balfour may not have honored her promise, but of course she did. She is nothing if not honorable.”

The younger man smiled warmly at his new friend and Elias righted himself.

“She is many noble things,” Elias agreed, thinking about the generous-hearted woman who had left hours earlier after her vow to help him find Christiana.

She does not know me. She has no reason to help me and yet she does not hesitate. She is the pinnacle of kindness.

He had considered that perhaps there was more to her offer and that maybe she, too, felt the immense connection between them.

Nonsense. She is an heiress to a hotel and to her you are a married, lowly waiter.

“I have a matter to discuss with you,” Joshua told him, plopping into the single chair next to the scarred writing desk. “However, I must warn you that it may be something you will not like to know.”

“Is it a matter regarding Christiana?”

Joshua nodded, his boyish smile fading slightly but holding.

“It is.”

“Then I do not care how unpleasant it may be. What have you learned?”

Joshua leaned forward and met Elias’ eyes intensely.

“I have been asking the other members of the staff about her. I knew her somewhat, you understand, but I did not fraternize with her outside of the hotel.”

“I did not realize that much fraternizing was done outside of the hotel,” Elias muttered. Joshua seemed embarrassed.

“Well…ah, in Christiana’s case, it seems she did leave with some frequency. More than the others. She had been reprimanded by Antoinette for being late twice in the week which she was terminated, both times were shifts in which she worked the night.”

Elias was pensive.

“That was not commonplace for her? To be late?”

“Apparently not. She was known to be dutiful and the guests liked her…”

Joshua stopped speaking and Elias could see that he was attempting to gather his words before he continued.

“Elias, there is gossip that she had a lover.”

Wind whooshed out of Elias’ lungs and he closed his eyes.

Of course she did. That makes the most sense.

“I am terribly sorry to tell you this,” Joshua rushed on, mistaking Elias’ reaction for the upset of a husband learning that his wife was unfaithful.

“It would not be the first time,” Elias chuckled lightly, opening his eyes and shaking his head. “Tell me more. Who is this man?”

Joshua shrugged.

“Some thought it might be a guest, perhaps one of the noblemen who pass through. Others suspected that it was another member of the staff, but there would be no reason for her to hide that from the other chambermaids. Relations among staff are frowned upon, but if they are kept discrete and do not affect the hotel, management turns the other cheek on the matter. No one knew she was married, Elias. She did not mention it one time.”

“She would not,” Elias agreed. “I am unsurprised.”

“How are you so calm about the matter?” Joshua asked, sounding alarmed. “Even if she was prone to affairs. How could you permit her to come here alone, knowing the kind of woman she is?”

“The tale is complex, Josh,” Elias explained. “My only concern is for Christiana’s safety, not her behavior.”

“You are a queer man, Elias Compton.”

“And you, Joshua Milner, are a good friend. Thank you for all you have done thus far. I should not stay here, however. I have been worried all afternoon that you will be caught.”

Joshua smiled.

“If you have Miss Balfour as your ally, I feel much more confident in hiding you here. Clearly, we cannot do this for an extended period of time but I will continue to investigate.”

“I feel rather useless and ungrateful sitting about while you and Miss Balfour speak to the staff. Surely there must be another way that I can explore the hotel without being detected.”

Joshua’s smile broadened and he winked conspiratorially.

“As a matter of fact,” he tittered. “There happens to be secret compartments all through the hotel, tunnels and old dumb waiter shafts which are unmanned and easily accessed—if one knows where to look.”

“And might I venture a guess and say that you are one who might know?” Elias jested.

“Of course!” Joshua laughed. “We will go exploring when the hotel retires for the night. I cannot promise you will find anything but at least you will not be idle.”

“I owe you a debt of gratitude, Josh,” Elias told him earnestly. “When I have found Christiana, I will see that you are repaid in kind.”

The boy snickered.

“I would be fibbing if I told you that I am not enjoying the excitement. Life about the hotel can get quite mundane. Perhaps I am doing this as much for myself as I am for you.”

“I doubt that very much,” Elias told him. “But I appreciate it all the same.”

“You may thank me by not getting caught,” Joshua quipped and Elias nodded, smiling.

“It is a deal, my friend.”