Page 63 of A Madness So Discreet

I miss Grace. And Father. He has left again to go talk to people. On his last trip he brought me home a pretty blue hat with velvet ribbons. He said he’ll bring me something even better this time, but I’ll have to do him a special favor to get it. I don’t know what could be prettier than that hat. Father says it matches my eyes.

Write back if you can, as I am bored.

Alice

Grace crushed the letter in her hands, and she coiled into a ball on her bed, allowing the darkness that Falsteed had warned her against to take over.

“We must do something,” Grace said, flinging Alice’s letter to the table in Thornhollow’s office. “I cannot stand by and let her suffer the same fate as I did.”

Thornhollow picked up the letter, scanning it quickly, his expression blank. “I have been following your father’s movements in the papers. His speech schedule is set and it will be a matter of weeks yet before he returns home.”

“And then what?” Grace cried. “What will we do?”

He didn’t meet her gaze, his eyes on the sleet-covered window instead. “Grace . . . I don’t know what we can do. Falsteed said it himself; you’re presumed dead, he’s in an asylum. In my opinion you’ve already put too much on Reed by asking him to run your letters. What would you have him do now? Risk imprisonment by kidnapping your sister?”

“Yes,” Grace said, her face a white sheet. “If that’s what it takes.”

“Ridiculous. As the only living child of a powerful politician there’d be a manhunt. He’d never even get her out of the city. Not to mention it would scare the poor child witless.”

“Better a frightened child than a child no longer,” she said. “And you forgot to number yourself among my allies.”

He tossed his hands in the air, baffled. “What can I do?”

“What can you do?” Grace seethed. “Do you think I don’t see the expensive cut of your clothes, or your sister’s jewels? No one would care if an inconsequential family name stopped dead with a brooding doctor—who happens to drive a very expensive carriage, as well. And women don’t just flock to looks, Doctor. I’ve been in society; I know exactly how important a good marriage—”

“All right!” He held up a hand to stop her. “I didn’t teach you the power of observation just to have it turned back on me. Yes, I have money. What good can that possibly do? Shall I approach your father and ask to buy his youngest daughter?”

“Do not mock me on this subject,” Grace said, eyes burning.

“I am not mocking the severity of the situation,” Thornhollow said. “I’m only trying to illustrate how fully our hands are tied.”

“I refuse to accept that,” Grace yelled.

“Grace,” Thornhollow said, the very calm of his voice sending her over the edge.

She slammed her fist onto Alice’s letter. “Why am I surprised that a man who can’t remember the names of dead women whose cooling bodies he stands over would take no interest in the fate of a little girl he’s never seen? If she were raving mad, one of your precious insane, you’d be the first to her defense. But she’s a perfectly normal girl, so her fate matters little to you!”

Thornhollow’s face was stony, his voice cold when he spoke next. “My interest has always been in the science and the science only, which is why I don’t remember the names of the dead. They simply do not matter to me. Your sister is not one of our victims. Her name is Alice. She is blond, like you, although her hair is naturally curly.”

Grace’s mouth fell open, her rage evaporated. “What?”

“She stands about four feet eleven inches, which may be taller than when you saw her last. She likes to sing and seems to have a particular affinity for ‘Oh Promise Me’ at the moment. As for the new hat, it is indeed quite pretty. The men I’ve been paying to watch your house for months even said so.”

Grace gaped, her tongue searching for words. “Doctor, I . . .”

He carefully folded Alice’s letter, newly stained with Grace’s tears, and handed it back to her. “Alice is important to you, which makes her important to me. She will not suffer needlessly. We will think of something, Grace. I promise you.”

Grace took the proffered letter, her hand still shaking with emotion. “I’m sorry for what I said. I had no idea—”

Thornhollow shrugged. “Once I learned you had a younger sister I knew it was only a matter of time before his affections transferred to her. Your presence shielded her for some time, but with you no longer in the house she became vulnerable.”

Grace’s hands went to her head. “I should never have left. I should’ve taken what life had dealt me so that it would never land upon her.”

“Nonsense,” Thornhollow said. “Actions such as your father’s are driven by power, nothing else. He seeks to dominate everyone around him, and he’ll use any tool in his arsenal to do so. Even if you’d stayed, Alice would have fallen victim to his need for control eventually. You being there would only result in a shared misery.”

He handed her a handkerchief and she wiped her face. “These men you have watching? What can they do?”

“Little more than watch, I’m afraid,” Thornhollow admitted. “But I thought having eyes there would be beneficial. If nothing else, it can bring you some comfort to know that your sister is still happy enough to sing.”