An English Rose

The Truth

Katherine smiled in delight. "Then, we will have something more than opera to talk about."

~*~

At the beginning of the third week, Pip turned around the moment he was out of the carriage. "You don't have to come with me today," he said abruptly. Katherine looked at him in surprise as she stepped to the ground. "I can go by myself."

"Pip, that's wonderful!" the young lady exclaimed, hiding the dismay she felt. She handed him the basket of food and then squeezed his shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Have a good lesson and I will be here at three o'clock to pick you up, alright?"

Nodding, the boy raced up the steps. Katherine stared at the entrance of the opera house long after the boy vanished from sight. "Where to, Miss?" Greaves asked, finally drawing her attention.

Reluctantly, she turned her back on the opera house. "Take me to the D'Arcy's," she ordered, thinking quickly.

~*~

"Katherine, you are looking unusually pleased with yourself," Michaela D'Arcy commented, suspiciously. She stared across the room at her friend. "I am going to assume it has something to do with where you have been hiding yourself these past few weeks."

Sitting in the D'Arcy drawing room, Katherine smiled as she sipped her tea. "Perhaps."

"So?" Jane prompted curiously. She set her cup of tea down on a table. Katherine just smiled up at her. "Are you going to tell us what you have been up to, or are you just going to sit there with that smug smile? You cannot expect us to guess what-" Her blue eyes lit up as she broke off. "You've found out where your father is!"

Immediately, Katherine's smile faded and she shook her head. "No," she answered, her tone sad. "I know your father is looking into it, and there is nothing else I can do. Though I wish that were the case."

The cousins exchanged concerned looks. "Well, you are not going to change the subject that easily, Katherine" Michaela declared impatiently. "Tell us what you have been doing."

Glancing between the two other ladies, Katherine smiled again. "Well, as I told you before, Pip came back three weeks ago," she said slowly, putting her cup of tea down. "What I didn't tell you is that I found someone to tutor him. He is finally comfortable enough with his tutor for me to leave him alone, which is why I came to visit you today. I could not stand to have to go home and keep Carlotta company."

"Why do I have the feeling we are not going to like the details you are not telling us about this tutor?" Jane asked cautiously. Katherine shrugged her shoulders. Horror crossed Jane's face. "Katherine, please tell me you haven't done what I think you've done! Who is the tutor?"

"I arranged for the phantom of the opera to tutor Pip," Katherine answered simply.

They both stared at her. "Let me get this straight," Michaela said slowly with a growing frown. "You refused to take me to see the secret passages beneath the opera house, but you took a stable boy? Katherine, that is so not fair! I told you I want to see all of that."

Fondly, Katherine smiled at her now glaring friend. "In time, Michaela," she promised. "I'm sure I can arrange to take you there."

"Hold on a moment," Jane protested, raising both hands. "Are you both out of your minds? Katherine, that man is a murderer! You heard it straight from Christine de Chagny. I can't believe you went back there! And Michaela! How can you want to go down where a murderer lives?"

Michaela shrugged in response. "Jane, calm down. I honestly intended to go back down there," Katherine admitted defensively. She set her tea cup aside and entwined her fingers together. "I was going to let him be. Goodness knows he deserves it after everything that has happened to him. But then, he saved my life."