Author's Note: I do apologize for the delay in getting this chapter to you lovely people. There were a couple other issues that demanded my attention for a few days. But I hope you enjoy this now. There's a bit more of Stephanie in this chapter and it picks up right where chapter eight left off. Enjoy!

Chapter Ten: A Sister's Suspicion

Stephanie was cautious as she sneaked through her house. It wasn't particularly late, so everyone was still up and about, which made her task even more difficult. She had to find a way to get a change of clothes before her family saw her. At the present, she looked like a wreck. Her dress was filthy and slightly torn. Her face was dirty, her hair was ruffled, and she wasn't sure if she still had blood on her mouth from when she had bit that brute in the alley way.

Stephanie turned a corner and gasped, nearly running straight into one of her mother's ladies maids.

The young maid also gasped for she thought initially that Stephanie was an intruder. When her eyes focused and she recognized Stephanie, she whispered, "Lady Chambers! Good heavens, are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, Gloria. I'm quite fine," Stephanie whispered back. "I just need a change of clothes."

Gloria nodded as she looked the lady up and down, taking in the ghastliness of the once lovely garment. She wanted to say, 'and a good bath too,' but didn't because she of course knew that it would be improper for a lowly maid to say such a thing to one of the ladies of the house. Gloria just nodded. "I'll take care of it," she said, guiding Stephanie into a small broom closet to keep her out of sight.

"And Gloria…you won't tell anyone, will you?"

With a smile and a reassuring shake of the head, Gloria replied, "Of course not, mum."

Soon, Stephanie was sufficiently changed and clean, having been able to wipe the dirt from her face at the sink in the powder room. Looking fit to walk the halls, Stephanie headed towards her room. She made it up the stairs and was halfway down the hall when…

"Stephanie!"

Stephanie turned and smiled when she saw her sister approaching her. Vivian Chambers was the eldest of the two sisters. Her sense of style was advanced and her social life was never resting. She was stunningly beautiful, with rich dark hair and deep blue eyes. Even through puberty, her face never seemed to have blemishes. Like her sister, she was well educated and possessed talents in several of the socially acceptable art forms, such as painting and playing the cello. Vivian was also a perfectionist; permitting nothing short of perfection from herself and from others. Still, despite her sometimes overbearing personality she was a good sister and a good friend. "Hello Vivian," Stephanie greeted.

"My dear sister, where have you been? And good heavens! What happened to your makeup?"

Stephanie laughed. Of course Vivian would notice the lack of face powder! "I just washed my face," she said truthfully.

"I have been looking for you all evening. Where have you been?"

Stephanie hesitated. She didn't want to be dishonest, but she also knew that it was extremely unlikely that Vivian would approve of where Stephanie had been. "Out," she answered simply, and then swiftly turned to head towards her room.

Her sister was fast on her heels. "Now hold on one moment!" Vivian said, chasing her little sister into her bedroom and closing the door. "Where exactly is 'out'?"

Stephanie sat at her makeup counter and began to reapply the cosmetics. "You know," she said, "…out."

Vivian grinned and shook her head, "No, no, dear sister. I'm not letting you off with an answer like that! Come on now, tell me where you went."

Stephanie sighed, "To a place you've probably never heard of, and I'm certain you've never been."

Vivian eyed her sister suspiciously, "So, you want to play with riddles, do you?"

Stephanie smiled coyly in the mirror. Already, she could tell that her sister was never going to give her a moment's peace until the riddle had been solved.

"Alright then," Vivian started, moving to stand directly behind Stephanie and placing a hand on each shoulder. "Were you alone?"

'Dash it all!' Stephanie lamented inwardly. Only two questions in, and Vivian was already on the right train of questioning. Her face must have betrayed her thoughts.

Vivian's eyebrows rose, "You weren't alone."

Straightening her shoulders, Stephanie replied, "I may have had company."

Now, a knowing smile was added to Vivian's increasingly intrigued face. "Was this company a boy?" She stressed the last word with sing-song glee.

'I'd hardly call him a boy,' thought Stephanie, but outwardly, she said only, "Really now, Viv. Is all this fuss really necessary?"

"Of course it's necessary!" Vivian declared, springing back from the chair and holding out her arms in a happy spin. "My sister, the loner, the reader, the I'm-content-to-just-stay-home-and-paint girl is finally getting out there and meeting young gentlemen! I'm just glad to hear that you shan't become an old maid!"

"'Old maid'?" Stephanie repeated. "I'm not even twenty years yet! And anyway, isn't it a bit early to have notions of matrimony? I only just met him yesterday."

"Ahh, but look at this face," Vivian said, turning her sister's head towards the mirror, "Such beauty! Honestly my dear, how long can you expect a sensible man to go before falling hopelessly in love?"

Stephanie had the modesty to blush and lower her gaze.

Vivian smiled and straightened. "So who is he?"

Stephanie remained quiet.

"Come on then. Who is he? Do I know him?"

Stephanie smiled and shook her head; they were back to the guessing game. "I shouldn't think so," she said simply.

Vivian looked thoughtful, tapping her chin and peering at the ceiling. "Hmm…if I guess him right, would you tell me?"

Stephanie laughed, "If you guess…"

"Well then…Do I know his mother? Or sister perhaps?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Hmm…" the older sister trailed around the room, gazing at her surroundings as if she expected helpful suggestions to come from the bedroom furniture. "Does he hold a profession?"

"Yes."

"Is it in…banking?"

Stephanie smiled, "No."

"Is it in…law?"

"No."

"Medicine?"

"No, not medicine."

"Politics perhaps? No, of course not. I would have heard of him. Unless…is he a foreigner?"

"No, I believe he's from here in London."

Vivian stopped and looked at her sister, "the fashionable side?"

"I don't know his actual address."

Vivian considered this information with a nondescript expression before getting back to her questioning. "Could he be an athlete? I know there was a cricket game last night that commanded quite a lot of attention from the public."

"No, he's not an athlete. But you're getting closer."

"An entertainer then?" Vivian asked hopefully.

Finally, Stephanie was able to nod. "Yep, entertainment is right!"

"Hmm…and I've not heard of him? Can't be too terribly successful then…" Vivian looked disapproving of this and Stephanie felt a little self-conscious. "Well, is he an actor in those motion pictures?"

"No," Stephanie chuckled. She was enjoying seeing her sister work so hard to guess Peter's profession. It was fun to know something that Vivian didn't.

Vivian sighed. "I feel like I'm not getting anywhere. Perhaps another route. How tall is he?"

Stephanie thought about it, she was a terrible judge of height. "Five…nine? Perhaps?"

Vivian nodded, "That's a good height. It means you'll have to step on your tip toes to kiss him fully. It's a good distance."

Again, Stephanie's cheeks reddened at her sister's words. The thought of kissing Peter sent a chill up her spine.

Vivian noticed her sister's blush, punctuating Stephanie's youthful virtue. She knew that her little sister was still young and had very little experience with the opposite sex. This knowledge spawned the next question as she continued to walk idly around the room. "How old is he?"

Again, Stephanie had to pause to consider an answer, "I'm not quite sure. Older than I, but not by much, I'd think."

"What color are his eyes?"

"Green."

Vivian stopped in her tracks and eyed Stephanie playfully at a sideways glance. "You came up with that one rather quickly, dear sister," she teased.

Stephanie noticed her error and tried to redeem it, "They could be blue. I'm not sure."

"Oh, you sounded quite sure the first time. And only after a day! This young man must be special. Or, in the very least, those eyes must be…"

Stephanie decided not to answer, already feeling rather embarrassed. She was always the sensible one, and Vivian was always the sister who abandoned her heart to any man who had the thought to smile at her. But Stephanie's heart was always guarded, guarded so as to avoid the growth of the calluses she already saw developing on her sister's wounded heart. Stephanie had never allowed herself to become so smitten with a man until she met Peter. But even now, at the mere remembrance of those pale green eyes, Stephanie's breathing deepened and something in the base of her back tingled with soft, irritating pleasure.

The questions continued until Vivian finally gave up hope of guessing who her sister's mystery man was. She had spent nearly an hour at her guessing game and had so far only established that he was a London entertainer of some sort, who seemed to have a good sense of humor, was evidently quite handsome, and his name began with the letter P. But Stephanie didn't seem to know where he lived, anything about his family history, or where he attended University.

It was nearly bedtime whenever Vivian finally left the room, investigator ambitions abandoned for the time being. As Stephanie changed clothes and settled into her canopy bed, she began to think about how her family would react to Peter when they met him. Surely, now that Vivian knew she was seeing somebody, Stephanie couldn't keep it a secret from her family for very long. It wasn't necessarily that she felt she had to keep him a secret. After all, it wasn't as though she was ashamed of him. But she knew what kind of man her family would expect her to choose. They expected someone well established, with plenty of money and a good family name. Peter was a good man. He was charming and witty, but he wasn't her family's idea of a "fine match".

Stephanie sighed. Maybe she was worrying about nothing. She had only known Peter for two days and it could be that this relationship wouldn't even progress to a serious depth. And even if it did, she could cross that bridge when she came to it. Until then, until she knew that what she had with Peter was special, there was so reason to go upsetting her family by telling them about him just yet. She would just wait, and see where this thing led.

Author's Note: When I first posted this chapter, there was a slight mistake in it. Stephanie described Peter as being 1.8 meters tall, using of course the metric system. I origionally wrote it by saying "Five foot nine" but my one of my proof readers called me out on it and said that the English use the metric system. However, shortly after this was posted, El Gringo Loco messaged me and informed me that the British did not use the metric system until the late 60's. So, I've changed it now and gone back the the five foot nine line in order to keep the story more accurate. I hope it didn't throw too many of you off.