That night at dinner Rose found herself next to Matthew and across from Emily. The younger girl was proving to be a talker, and was peppering her with rapid questions: "What is your age, Miss Tyler? Have you any siblings? How do you find the weather at present, is it not most pleasant for this time of year? Pray tell, Miss Tyler, do you have any talent at the piano-forte? Were you ever instructed in drawing?"
Rose scrabbled to find appropriately vague answers to appease the eager girl, who continued on, ignorant of her reluctance. "Confide in me Miss Tyler, I shall not speak a word to anybody on the subject, but are you...engaged to Dr Smith?"
Rose's cheeks reddened, "No! No! We're not…he's...my cousin?"
Emily looked surprised and glanced over at the Doctor, "I do not see the slightest resemblance, how odd! And surely his being your cousin does not mean you are prohibited from marrying."
"Oh, right, yeah, course not, I was just mean that's why we were traveling together." Rose looked desperately at the Doctor, but he had been placed at the other end of the table. He, by comparison was conversing easily with his neighbours (Miss Phillips, have you ever had a banana? Yes, a yellow fruit from the tropics. What a shame! No, I was never in the army, I encountered them in a greenhouse in London. You must try one someday!). Cecelia looked entranced, and the Doctor seemed to be thoroughly enjoying playing to such an appreciative audience. Rose felt a stab of uncertainty in the pit of her stomach watching them together, they looked like they were having a very good time.
Seeing Rose's distraction, Emily tried another line of questioning. "Miss Tyler, this uncle you were on the way to visit, is he expecting you? Will he not worry if you do not arrive tonight? If you feel inclined to write a letter, notifying him of your circumstances, I am certain papa could persuade the manservant to take it to the post office in town tonight, or at the very least, tomorrow morning."
"Oh, uh, no thanks, you see, my uncle is on holiday in Bath. He invited me to stay at his house if I was bored of London, so if I'm here for a while he won't notice."
"Bored of London?" Matthew, who had been listening to their conversation, sounded incredulous, "Surely not, Miss Tyler, I could never tire of London with all its distractions and society."
Rose was thankful to be back on a subject she knew well. "Do you go to London often, Mr Phillips?"
"Indeed I do, it is where I live for a good portion of the year. I am a student of mathematics at the university. I return as frequently as possible to visit my family, and that is where you presently find me."
"Must be nice to have a house like this to come back to, the gardens and all are so pretty."
Emily jumped at the chance to make her way back in the conversation. "Aren't they? I love walking around here. Did you know Matthew helped design the garden himself? I believe it is nearly as grand as the one at Forcythe! Don't you agree Matthew?" She didn't stop for confirmation, "Though of course we don't have a gardener every day and our lawn isn't nearly as big. Still I think our roses might almost be prettier for all that don't you? Or at least they smell magnificent when they are in bloom."
"Forcythe? Is that another house?" Rose prompted the younger girl to keep talking, it was much easier than answering questions herself.
The younger girl looked astonished at Rose's ignorance and in her momentary silence, Matthew stepped in. "It's the estate about two miles west of here. Very grand place, enormous grounds, but it's hardly ever occupied."
"Well," Emily continued, dropping her voice, "not to say that nobody ever lets it, but just as soon as each new tenants move in, they disappear!"
"Disappear?" Rose replied, her curiosity piqued.
"Well, you know, move out. Just weeks after moving in!"
"Why's that, then?"
"Nobody really knows, it is not that the house is unsatisfactory; it itself is magnificently decorated and the grounds are certainly nothing to complain of. The location is ideal; it is close enough to town to be useful, but not close enough to have unpleasant characters wandering in. The society is entertaining, if nowhere as varied as in London. There can be nothing lacking, and yet nobody stays for more than a month, or, in one case, they removed themselves in a fortnight. What an insult! What disgrace, and yet they could not be persuaded to stay! Is that not a mystery Miss Tyler?"
"Yeah, sounds weird." She looked over at the Doctor, wondering if he had heard anything Emily was saying, he was always up for a good mystery. However, at the moment he seemed to be absorbed in telling Mr Phillips and Cecelia a hilarious anecdote about a chance meeting with George III. Rose made a mental note to ask him later whether any of it was true. Knowing him, it probably was.
"What we do know," Emily continued, pulling Rose's attention back to her, "is that every time there is a new resident at Forcythe, some misfortune befalls them. Someone is taken ill, a maid goes missing, or the owner injures themselves, something of that nature."
At this Rose frowned. "Well, that's not exactly that strange is it? That's sort of everyday life."
"Well, perhaps, Miss Tyler, but to every new resident? Within a month each time? No, I think it very odd indeed. And what is worse, after perhaps a week of visits, a ball at best, they are never seen in society again! It seems that though they are anxious to move out of the house, they cannot be persuaded to go out while occupying it. Do you not consider that uncommonly strange?"
Rose was saved from answering by Mrs Phillips, who had overheard the last part of their conversation. "Come now, Emily, we don't want to bother Miss Tyler with ungrounded gossip." Following this veiled reproach, Emily focused mainly on her dessert for the rest of dinner.
The Doctor and Rose had been settled in rooms next to each other at the top of the house. The resulting effect was relative privacy. All of the family had rooms on the first floor, so their only company was the occasional maid passing through. The two therefore felt comfortable talking in the hallway together candidly.
"Noticed you were doing most of the talking round your side of the table. Miss Phillips found bananas as fascinating as you do then?" Rose nudged the Doctor playfully, enjoying the comfortable teasing after hours of talking with strangers.
The Doctor stared off into the distance dreamily. "Yup! Can you believe it? No one in this house has ever tried a banana except us two!" Rose laughed as he shook his head tragically. "So what did you think of the family then?"
Rose considered, "Normal as far as I can tell. No, I dunno, extra eyes or weird tentacles or anything."
"Well, you never know!" The Doctor replied cheerily, "Some species keep their tentacles very cleverly hidden. But I agree, the Phillipses are human through and through."
"Not sure about Cecelia though."
"What?" The Doctor quirked an eyebrow, "You think she's an alien?"
"No, no, it's just…she didn't seem a little- over interested to you?" Rose's mind flashed to the memory of Cecelia and the Doctor talking animatedly during dinner; she hanging on to his every word, and he responding eagerly.
"What? Didn't notice anything."
"Oh...it's just that she looked a bit like she was acting or something, that's all. I don't know, probably nothing. Being silly, me."
The Doctor appeared not to register that she was talking, he seemed to be stewing over something completely separate from their conversation. "Rose. How long were you thinking about staying here?
"Dunno. A couple nights, maybe see the town before we leave."
"Do you mind if we extend that to a week or so? Maybe longer. Anyways, see how it turns out."
Rose frowned at this proposal, usually the Doctor didn't like to stay in one place for too long unless Rose was visiting home in which case he was forced to wait for her. While considering this, she felt suddenly that the Doctor was very distant. He seemed unwilling to share what was on his mind, and she didn't want to push it. Every time she felt he was the closest friend she'd ever had, something happened to make him feel very far away from her. As she was on the verge of saying something, the Doctor bid a distracted good night and strode into his room. Rose was left alone in the corridor with only her thoughts for company.