The House of Beardsley

Chapter Thirty-six

The next Sunday, during our day off, I went with Tobias to see Lady Rachel Mondeschein.

We rode a small black carriage, meant for two people sitting across from one another, and I was incredibly close to him. I could see his long eyelashes. They were longer than Eugene's, and darker than the twin's, whose eyelashes were blonde like their hair. I realized I had been with them for so long that I'd began picking up on stuff like that. As well as the fact that Matheus was balding and Mister Kupka was growing a beard.

Today Tobias had dressed up once again, like what he wore to the department store—a formal black suit and matching top hat. It made him look older and even more serious than he already did.

"Are you fine?" Tobias asked, looking at me inspecting at him strangely.

"Uh, yes," I replied quickly, and looked at my hands instead. "Beth is really smart, isn't she?"

After the compromise, Beth gave us the address of Lady Rachel Mondeschein's secret countryside villa. Beth had a great memory and learned fast. She knew piano, German, French, a bit of Latin, and a lot of ballroom dancing. She hated studying those things, though. Which was why she ended up wreaking havoc most of the time. And running away from home.

"I suppose I'm glad she memorized the address." Tobias didn't look all that impressed.

"Yes." I was quiet for a moment before asking the question. "Master Tobias, did it surprise you at all? To hear that Beth was actually—"

"My half-sister?" Tobias looked at me. "You might not believe it, but I could see it. I could see the loneliness in her, and the happy front she put up that was too much like an act. It's people like her I'm most wary of. Maybe it's because it reminds me of Silas." It did? I tried to find another subject.

"She was very different that day we found out about her true identity." I thought back of the day Rhiannon confronted her. "She said she hates Master Elias."

"I can see why." Tobias parted the curtains and peeked out of the window of carriage. "I didn't like it when Father gave Silas more attention too, as a child."

I gawked at him.

"I can't imagine you being jealous."

He turned to me, and suddenly realizing what I blurted out, I pressed myself to the back of my seat in the carriage and wished I could fade into the darkness with my black hat and black coat—also formal to match Tobias.

"I still get jealous, you know." Tobias looked at me.

"Oh? Of what?" He turned back to the window.

"It's a secret." A smile danced on his lips.

With the sunlight streaming in and lighting up parts of his delicate face, he almost looked like he was having fun.

"You can be childish at times, Master Tobias," I said, but I was smiling. This trip might be the last one for both of us. It was full of hope, and both of us were giddy from the excitement.

When the carriage finally arrived at the place, we took another train which lasted an hour before we reached the countryside. There we hitched a ride on a carriage before walking a short distance to a beautiful countryside villa.

It was obviously not just any villa—it was a beautiful gothic house with an exterior of brown walls and roofs, like a huge cottage, but it was more of a mansion. It was scenic too: beautiful ivies crawled up the sides house, and there was a trellis of climbing roses, and the black gates echoed that of the Beardsley manor's. We walked through the gates and then up the stairs, leading to the door.