Tuesday, 18th June 1811

The Vicarage,

Whixley

My dearest Cathy,

I know you will probably not write back to me, you said as much in your last letter, but I want you to know that Mother and I are still here and still hoping you will return home.

Mother has been ill again. The doctor says her chest is weak and she needs sea air. Father is hoping to take her to Lyme Regis in the spring. After a bleak time of it after you left, he has been able to take up the ministering of two new parishes, so it is more than possible we will have enough for Mother and me to make an extended visit for her health.

I am happy to report, dear sister, that Father has mentioned you in kinder terms during the past few months. It is, I think, the relief of new income and some distance from that terrible day when you told him the truth and then lost the little life that you carried. Perhaps it is a sign that he will allow you to come back to us.

Please, if you can, write a note to let myself and Mother know you are well. And if you wish to return anytime, I will try my hardest to send you the fare and we will find a way together for Father to forgive you. And you him.

Your loving sister, always,

Rosalie

What had happened in that genteel vicarage? Clearly, something tragic that had seen one tiny life lost in the past, and another life lost now.

“They should know what has happened,” Evan said.

Indeed. To never know the fate of a missing loved one would be purgatory on earth.

“We have an address,” I said, refolding the letter. “I will write to them and tell them the terrible news.”

How did Miss Hollis—the daughter of a vicar—end up in the basement of the Exalted Brethren of Rack and Ruin? Was it just by chance—one of Long Sal’s runaways who ran out of luck? Yet Long Sal said other genteel girls had been seen inside the club, so Miss Hollis was not an anomaly. A nasty possibility sprang to mind: was that part of the wager too? To seduce respectable girls and take them into the bowels of hell? I would not put such degradation past the Exalted Brethren.

It was at that moment that the side door opened again. I thrust the purse and letter back into my pocket as Gib and Reed came out with the cart, their expressions smugly satisfied.