It was not time to run - yet. Afterall, things were still status quo as far as Lirssa saw. She would not know for certain until she went inside the brownstone, and it was time to do that. What entering the stolid house revealed was nothing greatly had changed. Arabella was missing from the dinner table, but Fitzhugh did not refer to it, nor did Jasper.

In fact, the entirety of that morning's calamity was avoided. Fitzhugh asked if Lirssa was ready for her lessons with Professor Gardiner the next day, as superior and content as ever he was. Not even that fiendish twinkle to his eyes was out of sorts. Lirssa even wondered if Fitzhugh wasn't a little bit happy that Arabella had been, well, whatever had happened to her.

Lirssa wanted to know what happened, but asking Fitzhugh was a bad play of cards, so she kept the question to herself to ask Annie later. Annie, of course, was eager to gab and blab about what she knew of the event. That Miss Arabella was still doing poorly, but had woken up. A splitting headache, said Annie, that no amount of hop or caretaking from the apothecary or healer would mend. Time is what it would take.

That meant Lirssa had another day free tomorrow. Another day that would give her time to solve this puzzle without hurting anyone - so she hoped. She went to sleep much more at ease, planning out her next day. There would be the visits, of course, then studies with Mister Jolly, and then she'd get to the library.

When dawn came to chase away the shadowy dreams that plagued her sleep, Lirssa felt the clammy grasp of those dreams on her bright outlook. It discolored her cheerful aspect, and she had to work hard to regain it. She went over and over the bright plan of the day. It became a mantra, circling about her mind to keep those haunting visions away.

By the time she was down at breakfast, cleaned, washed, and dressed in her motley for a day of her won, the smile was back as well as the bounce to her step. Jasper was astonished by her cheerful hello, but Fitzhugh gave it back with a warm chuckle. "Good morning, Lirssa. You must have slept well to look so delighted this morning."

Lirssa did not want to admit to the disturbing, if detail lacking, dreams. She shrugged and heaped slathered her toasted bread with raspberry jam. "I suspect you'll want me back by dinner time then?"

Fitzhugh patted his lips beneath the moustache with the white linen napkin. His brows rose in amused question. "You are not thinking of breaking our bargain so soon, Lirssa. You have to assist in a search this morning."

Confused, Lirssa looked around to see of Arabella had just arrived or for some evidence she had been there before. "Is Miss Arabella feeling better?"

"Oh, no, you did a number on her, right enough." Jasper sneered. He shoved an overlarge bite of bacon in his mouth, but it did not rid his face of the wild boar-like grin.

"I didn't do anything." She felt heat creep up her back and fire her mind.

The warmth and weight of Fitzhugh's hand rested upon Lirssa's arm. It was empty of comfort, though the words he spoke intended some. "Of course you did not, Lirssa, but no, Miss Arabella is still not quite recovered from yesterday's adventure. Today, I have someone else who is going to try and settle this matter once and for all."

When he drew his hand away, the heat of her mind was replaced by a chill that spread all along her insides. Iced water splashed about her inside and her shoulders trembled once. Fitzhugh looked past her to a clock on the sideboard. "In fact, I do expect him any time now."

Of a sudden, instead of the earlier mantra that held her hopes for the day, Lirssa heard the lines from a poem Mister Jolly had her memorize "But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!" There was no doubt that many of her plottings and plannings had gone awry in the past several weeks. She felt very much like a mouse stepped into a greater dominion with nothing but her past abilities and defenses to try and save her from an early end.

The bell rang. "Ah," Fitzhugh smiled and stood from his table. "Come along, Lirssa, dear, and meet your temporary tutor." His hand fell heavy once more on her shoulder, bidding her do as he said.

She rose, stiffened her spine, held up her head, and turned to face this new person with the defiance of a mule. She stood in the foyer with Fitzhugh directly to her side when Annie let the man in to greet them. The man gave over his bowler hat, cane, and coat to Annie with his back to them. But his hair was as silver as the silverware they had just been using to eat breakfast. It fell just to his shoulders with a pristine wave of soft rolling water. When he turned, his features were like a snow owl, pale, round except his nose. It was thin and sharp between two coal black eyes. He reached out an age spotted hand to Fitzhugh. "Glad you called me up, Fitzhugh. Dreadfully dull out in the countryside these days. All have been curious to your progress, but I understand there has been a little hiccup in the efforts, wot?"

Fitzhugh gave a good hearted chuckle along with a vigorous shake. "Good to see you, O'Malley, my man. Good to see you, and glad you could come on such short notice. Yes, indeed, seems my young Lirssa" - Lirssa hated when he said "my Lirssa" - "did a bit of short circuit on dear Arabella. She is still confined to her bed, but we know Elliott is nearby, and we should see to it while she still has the taint of him on her."

"Right you are, right you are. Poor Arabella. I will see to her later, but come along, Miss Lirssa, you and I have some work to do putting a traitor behind bars."

*Poem is by Robert Burns "To A Mouse"