"Thank you," both she and Tilly said in unison when presented with the tea. She was about to spill tea, alright. She waited for him to sit again and for his word. She nodded when he did so, and then sipped her tea as it was, her fingers trembling a little to give away her trepidation on what she was about to reveal. She wasn't acting, that would be very clear. The girl had bruises under her eyes, indicating a lack of sleep for what she had been enduring since her brother brought the article to her attention.

"Well, I was away at finishing school... and one of my sisters was being courted and planning a wedding, when her fiance mysteriously disappeared. Because she was beside herself with grief over this loss, she has been out of her mind with it. I decided to hire a man to seek answers, as I am a mere woman and doors won't open for me the way they would for a man." She sighed and looked down at her cup. "This was after I returned home, of course. But I digress... The man I paid for answers came back to me eventually, but not the answers I sought. My oldest brother, Magnus, seems to be elbows deep in something involving a brothel, he seems to be doing nefarious things behind closed doors, and I mean beyond his dealings with the courtesans. He's become a very angry man as of late... Tilly, you tell him what you know."

Tilly, whose tea was untouched thus far, set her lips into a grim line and a little bit of surprise that her mistress wanted her to speak. "I was at the manor one day when one of the maids came rushing out of Master Magnus' quarters, and there in her arms was soiled laundry. Bloody laundry... She saw me and froze. We stared at each other for a moment, and then she hurried on passed me, refusing to meet me eyes."