Edward was just leaving his lodgings when Theo arrived. "Oh, good, I've caught you," she said without preamble. "I need to talk with you for a few minutes."

Edward had an appointment at Manton's Gallery, but it didn't occur to him to turn Theo away. "Come on in," he said amenably, ushering her through the front door and into his sitting room.

The footman stationed himself at the foot of the steps leading to the front door.

"So what can I do for you, Theo?"

"I need you to accompany me to a tavern on Dock Street." Theo came straight to the point.

"Now what are you up to?" Edward bent to warm his hand at the fire.

Theo explained the events of the previous evening. "And Stoneridge refuses to tell me anything," she finished. "I'm convinced he recognized the man in the tavern, so he knows who's behind these 'accidents,' and he won't let me help. So I'm going to have to find out for myself."

For once Edward was uncooperative. "If Stoneridge says it's not your business, then you can't make it so, Theo."

Her mouth took its familiar stubborn turn. "I have made it so." She paused and then with visible effort broached the most difficult subject. "You saw what happened at Mama's reception the other afternoon. He won't say anything about that, either. I can't ask him about it because…" She paused again, chewing her lip. "Because it… it must be something that he's ashamed of. There must be something that happened to him that he can't talk about… It pains him deeply, I know."

She took a turn around the room, her stride impatient and agitated. "But I'm beginning to think that and the accidents have to be connected. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise, don't you think?"

She turned back to Edward. He was looking uncomfortable. Stricken almost, as he had done during Sylvester's humiliation in her mother's salon.

"What is it?" she demanded.

Edward shook his head. "It's just something I heard in the Peninsula. I don't believe a word of it, but I imagine it explains what happened at your mother's."

"Tell me." She came close to him, her eyes fixed on his face.

"I wasn't going to say anything, because there can't be anything to it. Anyone who knows Stoneridge has to realize that. I gather the Peer took his side at the -" He stopped. Court-martial was such a grim concept, even when it was part of due process: when a naval captain lost his ship, or an army commander lost the regimental colors.

"Cut line, Edward." Theo's expression was taut, and he could read anger in her eyes.

"Perhaps you should ask him yourself?" he suggested awkwardly. "I've only heard it third- or fourth-hand. I don't want to speak out of turn."

"Goddammit, Edward. If you've known something about this all along and haven't told me, I take it very ill in you," she declared furiously. "Now tell me!"

Edward sighed. He was in too deep to back away now, and he could understand Theo's anger, but it still felt like spreading gossip.

Succinctly, he told her what he'd heard. Theo listened in incredulous silence.

"Stoneridge a coward!" she exclaimed when he'd fallen into an unhappy silence. "That's impossible. Oh, he has any number of difficult characteristics, but I'd stake my life on his courage. Wouldn't you?"

"Certainly," Edward agreed. "And he was acquitted, as I said. But Colonel Beamish said it was still murky. Damn murky, he kept saying. A man of few words is Colonel Beamish."

"But Sylvester was wounded – severely wounded." Theo struggled to fit what she knew of her husband into this history.

"A French bayonet to the head," Edward said. "But after he surrendered, according to Beamish."

"I don't believe a word of it." Theo began to pace the room again, her skirt swishing around her ankles with her impetuous stride. "I'm certain all these 'accidents' are connected to this, Edward. We must go to the Fisherman's Rest immediately."

"No," Edward said. "We're dining with your mother and then going to Almack's."

"Oh, fiddlesticks! This is so much more important."

"Theo, I am not going to poke and pry into Stoneridge's affairs," Edward stated flatly.

Theo stared at him. "What's happened to you, Edward? This is an adventure. We've always had adventures together."

"I'm not much use in an adventure now, Theo."

"Oh, you do talk such nonsense." But she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him. "You can shoot with one hand, can't you?"

"Not as well as with two. Anyway, Theo, that's beside the point. If Stoneridge wanted you to know, he'd have told you himself. And if he wanted your help getting to the bottom of it, he'd have asked for it."

"He just doesn't know he wants it," she said stubbornly. "He's dreadfully reserved, and he simply won't confide in me." It occurred to her that there'd been a time when she hadn't been able to share her own pain with Sylvester. But now she knew that she could. When had that changed?

Edward looked uncomfortable. He didn't like these glimpses into the intimacy of his friend's marriage. But he didn't think Theo would see it in that way. She was direct and candid to an almost embarrassing degree.

"So you won't come with me?" Theo said after a minute.

"It's a bad idea, Theo." His voice was cajoling, pleading almost. "Stoneridge can look after his own concerns. You don't know what stones you'll turn up if you go barging into something that you know nothing about."

"Very well." She shrugged in acceptance. She knew she could probably persuade him if she pushed it, but it would make him miserable. However, she didn't accept his reasoning, only that she must do this alone. "I'd better get home, if I'm to be in Brook Street for dinner."

Edward regarded her, doubt in his eyes. "I'm sorry if you feel I've let you down, Theo."

She shook her head. "I don't think that. Still, I think the army's made you stuffy." Her smile teased him, taking any sting from the words.

"I think it's maturity and experience," he retorted. "And it's not so much being stuffy as behaving responsibly, Theo. We don't know what we'd be looking for, and what the hell do you think we'd do with whatever it is if we found it?"

"That would rather depend on what it was," she said. "But we won't talk of it again."

Edward saw her out and went on to Manton's, still uncertain. He was not convinced Theo had dropped her planned excursion to the Fisherman's Rest, and if she was going to insist on going, then he'd have to accompany her. She certainly couldn't go alone to the kind of place she'd described. If he knew about her plans and let her go into danger alone, Stoneridge would be entitled to call him out. Or more likely take a horsewhip to him. A man couldn't in honor bound meet a one-armed cripple on the dueling field.

The dismal reflection did nothing to improve his frame of mind later as he dressed for dinner at Brook Street. But neither would it ever have occurred to him to tell Stoneridge of his wife's intentions. A man didn't rat on his friend.