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“Can I see?” Frank nodded to her face as he crouched down beside her.

“It’s really nothing,” Lizzie said, as she lifted the steak momentarily to reveal her eye.

He flinched, his expression growing even more grave. “I can’t believe Daphne did that,” he said, swallowing. He looked away a moment as though steeling himself for bad news. “Can you explain to me – the remark you made to Jack.”

“Which remark?” Lizzie stalled, though she could guess well enough.

“About why this happened,” Frank continued doggedly. “Jack said, well he seemed to think that … ” he trailed off as though unable to continue. “That it was something to do with Maggie.”

“I confronted Daphne about what Ma told me yesterday.”

Frank’s eyes flew to hers in painstaking enquiry. “What did Ma tell you?”

“That your father decided to replace Maggie with Daphne, so they fed your wife a bunch of lies.”

Frank collapsed down onto the seat Benedict had vacated. He passed a shaking hand over his brow. “Pa did that?” he croaked and then lapsed into heavy silence. “He told Maggie that me and Daphne – ” Lizzie nodded. “And he told me the people were talking about how she was carrying on behind my back.” His voice rasped until it sounded like his throat closed over.

“Yes, so I gathered from what you told me the other day. He worked on your pride, I suppose. Your grandmother said Jedidiah Toomes had first messed up Benedict by letting him go into the workhouse and then you by getting rid of your wife.”

Frank started violently at her mention of the workhouse. “For God’s sake,” he said hoarsely, looking about. “Do not mention that place to Benedict. She never should have told you of that.”

“Of course, she should!” Lizzie said briskly. “Benedict’s secrets are safe with me. And besides, he will tell me of it himself, with time. After all, he says that no one is closer to a man than his wife.”

Frank stared at her a moment before covering his face with his hands. “I can’t believe – ” he started in a choked voice. “That Maggie thought I played her false. And with Daphne.”

“Well, Daphne is a very handsome woman,” Lizzie said, taking a final sip of cold tea.

“You never met my Maggie. Daphne couldn’t hold a candle to her.” He brooded a moment in silence. “All this time, I thought it was that plain-faced friend of hers turning her against me, never my own father.”

“Aggie?” asked Lizzie with interest. “The human skeleton?”

“Aye, her. Maggie was always running off to her and telling her all her woes. That was about the time she stopped talking to me altogether.”

“Well, it sounds like there were already some cracks in your marriage before your father started prizing them even further apart,” Lizzie remarked dryly.

Frank grimaced. “It was all my fault. We married very young and I … I never stuck up for her like I should have.”

Sebastian leapt upright, and they both turned to see Benedict approaching with a parcel wrapped up in paper.

“Battered fish,” he said holding it aloft.

Lizzie would have preferred to hear a little more of Frank’s thoughts before her husband’s return, but seeing the meaningful look Benedict angled his brother’s way, Frank soon departed, leaving them to their food.

“What did he want?” Benedict asked, throwing a look after Frank. “He wasn’t bothering you to know where Ma went?”

“He never mentioned her once,” Lizzie replied truthfully. “He wanted to check on my eye.”

Benedict grunted. “That’s alright, then.” He washed his hands and then turned the steak over. The coldness made Lizzie flinch, but he murmured soothingly to her. “It’s bringing out the bruise.”

They ate their supper largely in silence. When they had finished, Benedict carried a bucket of hot water inside the wagon for her and carried her over to the door.

“I’m not infirm,” Lizzie objected, but was ignored.

“Do you need me to help you into your nightgown?”

“Of course not!” she spluttered. “I meant to do some sewing this evening on the new curtains.”

“No,” he interrupted her. “You’re resting that eye tonight and that’s my final word.”