“I wonder if whoever had those papers served to The Iris Club is in any way connected to what we found below them?” he whispered so that only she could hear.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Tilly whispered, frowning. “But I should have.”
“Have a care, Tilly, because if whoever was meeting below was using your club as the entrance, then it makes sense they’d want it empty once more,” Ambrose said. “Especially as we’ve locked the outside door.”
“Do you think we should open it again?”
“It’s definitely something we need to consider, but I don’t feel comfortable about whatever could be going on down there continuing,” Ambrose said. “We need to discuss this more and perhaps bring these people in on it.”
“Agreed,” Tilly said. “But not today, as we are discussing Pavlov business.”
Mungo thrust some paper at him. “You two read this.”
Ambrose took them. “Always so polite, Mungo.”
The Scotsman walked away without another word.
“Don’t you think it would be wonderful to be able to go about your day being constantly grumpy and rude?”
“Do you want to be grumpy and rude?”
The glasses looked cute on her and made her green eyes seem brighter. Delicate patterns engraved the arms, but he couldn’t make out exactly what they were without leaning closer.
“Constantly,” she said, taking the first of the sheets of paper he held. She began to read, so he did the same.
Ambrose squinted to bring the words before him into focus and felt the pressure start in his temples. He persisted.
“How is your headache?”
“Gone, thank you,” he lied.
She didn’t comment further, just started humming softly, which made it nigh on impossible for Ambrose to concentrate, as if he wasn’t already having enough trouble with her standing so close.
“If you could find your way to stopping that, I would be grateful.”
“What?” She frowned at him.
“Humming.”
“I most certainly was not humming.”
“Of course you were. You constantly hum when you are reading, thinking, or eating,” Violet called from across the room.
Ambrose wasn’t sure how she overheard their conversation but was glad she had, as she’d proved him right.
Tilly huffed out a breath but added nothing. They continued to read in silence.
“Excuse me.” Tilly suddenly removed her glasses, placed them on the narrow table, and walked over to where Violet stood.
He wondered if she was going to take his sister to task about the humming comment, but it didn’t worry him. Violet could more than handle herself.
Ambrose tried to focus on the page before him, but his eyes slid up to where the glasses sat. Could she be right? He looked around him, but everyone was busy reading or asking questions. Angling his body slightly so no one could see him, he picked them up and held them to his face. Looking at the words through the lenses, he could see them clearly.
She was right, damn her. Not that he’d be telling her that. He returned them to the table.
“Why did you not find a way to tell me about the incidents happening at your club, Tilly?” he demanded when she returned.
“Why would I?”