Aldous knew better of him, apparently. Ben chewed the inside of his lower lip as he eyed his older brother, wondering what that meant. Did Aldous have any idea what had actually happened between him and Ellory, or was this just an attempt to see the best in him, for the sake of their relationship? He would have thought the latter, but if Aldous didn't know enough about who Ben was as a person to genuinely believe he wasn't a complete and utter cad, whose fault was that? Ben had been the one who'd been so desperate not to have anything to do with his stuffy, rich, traditional family.

"But you researched the asylum," Ben said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone entirely. That option was probably meant as a threat, he realized, some alternative to force him into accepting these tickets to Canada, but even the suggestion of it stung. His brother had seen Mrs. Abercrombie's letter and thought that the acceptable solution was to look in to what it would take to send Ben to an insane asylum.

Well, apparently this was where the matter stood. Aldous might have thought he was abominable, or might have only believed otherwise because he had willfully decided to believe the best of Ben without any proof. He'd looked in to sending him to an asylum. There was a ticket to Canada.

"What am I supposed to do in Canada?" he asked helplessly. "I have a job here. My room here, my whole life..."