Diana packed her bag the next day. She would be going to Estelle manor for the day for her reading lessons. She wouldn't be alone, though. She knew a few people there already. So far Hugo was her favorite. He had a very homely air about him. James would be taking her today as well. Alexander was too busy rebuilding the hallway, Thomas had to assist in the rebuilding, and Benjamin was a bit reluctant to go to the manor, having bad blood with one of the watchers. So today it would be a Diana and James adventure. Before she left for the visit, she wandered into the hall to find Thomas and Alexander working hard. She gave Thomas a hug. "Bye, Thomas. I'll tell Heinrich you said hello... whoever that is." She hugged Alexander next. "I'll make sure to tell everybody that you love and miss them." He grinned and ruffled her hair. He shouted a demand before she escaped. "Bring back homework."

When they heard the door close, Thomas pulled Alexander into his room that Diana was currently using to sleep in. Thomas grabbed Alexander's jabbot nearly choking him, and didn't stop till they were inside. "Alex, we need to talk. I don't want to tell Diana this, and I'm too frightened to show Benjamin." He pulled out a paper. "Peter left his bible at the house the last time he stayed with us. I looked in it and found this." He showed Alexander the ownership page. "So you tore the ownership page out. What does that matter to me?" Thomas tapped the bottom. "Read the surname." The former redhead looked closely. "The Bible belongs to......." His face dropped in shock. "Peter Shea Hutchinson." He stared at Thomas. "Does Peter know that you found this?" Thomas shook his head. "Does Peter know Benjamin's last name?" Thomas shrugged. "I don't know. When I saw the name, I just.... I panicked." Alexander sighed holding his hands together toward his mouth almost like he was praying for the best decision. "Tonight I'll have some tea, and try to make a decision about what to do." This was the dilemma of a lifetime. How could he just break the news? Maybe it was coincidence... maybe not.

"It was right to come to me, Thomas." He pat his shoulder letting him leave the room. This was pressure. He sighed flopping back onto the bed. So Peter could be Benjamin's relative. Maybe even his son. Thankfully there was a pleasant aroma about the room. It put his mind at ease. He leaned down. The smell came from the sheets. It was... Diana's smell? He leaned in, smelling the sheets. Her scent was intoxicating. He didn't know if it was a lotion, or just her natural fragrance, but it was almost too much for him. Sure, she always smelled nice, but this he could indulge in. He grabbed the sheet, and held it to his nose. God, it was so good his spine arched! He groaned.

"Are you done trying to cram your sheets up your nose?" Thomas said, not having fully left the room yet. He had a cup of tea on a saucer. Obviously taking humor in the moment. Alexander sat up grimacing. "Says the man that has a sex life. Let me indulge a bit, hmm?" He asked tossing the sheets off his body. "So clearly the kiss in the carriage wasn't enough?" He asked sipping his tea, with a small smirk. Alexander was shocked. "How in God's name do you know about that?" Thomas rolled his eye lights. "Alexander. You were swooning the whole party after Diana left, and your gaze lingers when she walks by. You're bad at hiding your passions, and I'm good at picking up subtle tells." He leaned against the doorway. "Don't worry. I'm sure that she'll rebound from Murphy and nothing will stand in the way of you courting her."

"I'm sure that things will be back to normal sooner rather than later." He said happy that Murphy wasn't in the house. When she started dating him, he noticed that she didn't go to the tavern as much or even get to see her friends so everybody felt this was a good thing. Alexander bit his lip. "There is one thing that scares me about starting any relationship with her...Can I share something with you? Something... private?" Thomas nodded taking another sip from his tea "Of course."

"...I've never had sex with a woman before."

Thomas spat out the tea dropping the cup and saucer.

~~~~~

"We're here." James said tapping on the carriage door. When she stepped out she stared up at the manor. It looked even bigger than Reginald Manor. She walked up to the door, with James, and waited for the door to open. Judas opened the door, and welcomed the pair in. "Welcome Diana, James. Hugo is in the library waiting for you." He waved them in. Before Hames could follow behind Diana, Judas grabbed his collar. "Get into trouble, and you loose a finger." James rolled his eyes. Maybe finding Haytham would be a good idea. He led Diana through to the library.

Upon turning the corner, Diana got the shock of a lifetime. She was greeted with a loud "BOWRF!" A floppy basset hound ran up to her to greet her. When she saw she backed up against James nearly causing him to fall backwards. "Don't bite me. Please don't bite me." She whimpered. She leaned against James, who calmed her feeling her shake. "It's okay. Gordon won't bite you. He's just excited to see you is all." He got another bark and pranced into the library. Hugo saw that his newest student was here. "Apologies. I wasn't informed that dogs were overwhelming for you." He called Gordon to heel, which he sat at his feet obediently. Gordon nudged his hand to get it on his head. Diana never realized how essential animals were to these boys, but with a drawback on technology animals did seem
more essential.

"Alright, Diana. Let's get started." He said pulling up a chair to the desk. He sat down, and sat a paper down dipping a quill in an inkwell. "First I want to know everything that you know how to spell. First, do you know your alphabet?" Diana nodded. "Oh, yes. I know my alphabet." It was likely the boys were older than the alphabet song. Hugo grinned. "Good! Very good. I will make a syllabus based on what you know. Knowing your alphabet is a great way to start. Do you know how to spell any words at all?" She thought about it and explained. "I know the single letter words, like "I" and "A" and the only big word I really know is "New York." He looked up. "Why that city?" He asked interested.

Diana grinned. "It's where I used to live." This caught the former general's attention. He warmly smiled. "I've been there before." Diana grinned not taking into account that it was for completely different reasons. "Well, Diana I will gladly write my syllabus and I guarantee by the end of this week you will learn how to spell your name.

He walked out of the room, to grab something. As she waited, she looked down at Gordon. A string of saliva glistened in the candle light as he glanced up with sympathetic eyes. She leaned down and let her shakes hand carefully stroke his back. He held still his tail giving a wag. She stopped when Hugo came back. "This is for you." He set the diary down in front of her. "It's not mandatory for you, but I want you to write as much as you can in this diary. You don't have to turn anything in, and you don't have to show me anything in it. Just as long as you have it. You can write about whatever you want. You can write about your past life, your favorite flowers, how much you hate Murphy. It can be anything. Also don't feel afraid to visit the library in your home from time to time. I would like it if you read because you want to, not because you have to."

She nodded, and put it in her bag. He got out some reading tools he used on Haytham to get started, as he did that. When she looked over her shoulder she spotted James looking at a book with Haytham that he brought along to share.