Emily stared at her with withering reluctance, and then dismay. It was quite a moment or two before she realized Charlotte was teasing her.
“Why, Charlotte-you-” she could think of no word that both described her feelings, and was fit for the tongue of the lady she felt herself to be.
Charlotte laughed.
“Come in, tell me what you have detected, before you burst!”
Emily had intended to drop her clues one by one, to extend the story to its utmost tension, but she could not bear it herself.
“Euphemia Carlton is having an affair!” she said proudly. She waited for Charlotte’s amazement.
Charlotte gratified her, widening her eyes and letting the duster fall from her hand.
“There!” Emily shone with satisfaction. “Pitt hasn’t found that out, has he? The affair is with Brandy Balantyne, and that isn’t all!” She hesitated, for effect.
Charlotte sat down.
“Well?” she inquired.
Emily sat beside her.
“She is expecting! The third month!”
Charlotte was genuinely impressed, and she was perfectly sure Pitt did not know any of this, whether it was actually relevant or not.
“How do you know?” she asked. It seemed the oddest information to have come by on so short an acquaintance.
“Sophie Bolsover told me. She is a silly, harmless creature, and does not seem to have the least notion of its meaning.”
“Or else she knows it has no meaning,” Charlotte did not wish to burst the bubble of Emily’s excitement, but the truth always came to her mouth as soon as it occurred to her mind, and she had not yet managed much skill in controlling it. Besides, it was kinder in this instance not to let the supposition grow without examination.
“How could she possibly know such a thing?” Emily demanded. “If Euphemia is having an affair with Brandy Balantyne, the child will be his! And another thing I haven’t told you-I saw Sir Robert Carlton. He is quite old. Very grand and distinguished, but fearfully grim looking. And his hair is fair and his eyes quite light. Brandy is very dark; his hair is black and his eyes hazel, dark-colored.”
Charlotte remained unimpressed.
“Euphemia is fair!” Emily exploded with exasperation. “Her hair is very handsome, red gold! If the child’s hair is black, there will be the most fearful scandal! No wonder she is frightened.” She blinked. “Thank goodness George is dark and I am fair. Whatever my child should be like, it will raise no comment,” she said quite casually, merely a thought in passing. Emily was practical, above all things.
Charlotte accepted it as such.
“That really is very important,” she said seriously. “About Euphemia and Brandy Balantyne, I mean.”
Emily beamed with satisfaction. She was more pragmatic and more assured than Charlotte, and yet there was something in Charlotte, perhaps an inner certainty of her own beliefs, that made Charlotte’s praise peculiarly valuable to her.
“Shall you tell Mr. Pitt?” she asked.
“I think I must! Is there any reason why I should not?”
“No, of course not. Why else should I tell you? My dear, you know better than to imagine I should trust you with a secret!”
Charlotte was hurt, and it showed in her face.
“Not that you would tell it,” Emily said quickly. “But you would never lie, not successfully. You would betray that you knew something, by your very discomfort, and then have to swear silence. The whole thing would be awful, and grow to be far more important than the secret itself.”
Charlotte stared at her.
“I lie very well,” Emily added. “I think that makes for a good detective, especially if you are not of the police, and therefore cannot be direct in your interest. As soon as I discover something further, I shall tell you.”
Charlotte thought for a moment or two, and then spoke carefully.
“Perhaps you had better see if you can find out how long this affair has been going on. But Emily-please be careful! Do not be carried away with your successes. If they discover what you are doing, you may become very disliked.” She took a deep breath. “More than disliked. As you say, there would be a dreadful scandal. Sir Robert is in the government. If Euphemia was prepared at best to bury her own dead children without Christian rites, or, at worst, actually to kill them herself to protect her reputation, she will not easily let you expose her now!”
Emily had not considered any personal danger before, indeed it had never entered her head that any part of the business would affect her at all. Now she was suddenly cold. The story had suddenly become reality.
Charlotte saw her face pale, her hands clench involuntarily. She smiled and put her fingers over Emily’s.
“Just be careful,” she warned. “Detection is not just an exercise of the mind, you know. People are real, and love and hate are dangerous.”
When Pitt returned in the evening Charlotte met him almost at the door. Emily’s news had been simmering inside her all day, and with the sound of Pitt’s step on the pavement, it had finally come to the boil. She caught hold of his lapels and kissed him quickly.
“Emily came this morning!” she said the instant she let go. “She has discovered something tremendous. Come in and I shall tell you.” It was almost an order, and she freed herself from his grasp and swept into the parlor, standing in the middle to watch his expression as she delivered the broadside.
He came in, his extraordinary face crumpled a little in apprehension.
“Emily has found out that Euphemia Carlton is having an affair with young Brandon Balantyne!” she said dramatically. “And that she is expecting a child!”
If she had wished to shock him, she was fully satisfied. His face went blank as he absorbed the information; then clouded a little with doubt.
“Are you sure she is not-” his eyebrows arched. “-indulging in gossip, a bit of scandalizing?”
“Of course she is indulging in gossip!” she said exasperatedly. “How else does one get information? It is for you to determine if it is true. That is why she came to me, so that I could tell you. It shouldn’t be difficult-” she stopped, as he was laughing at her. “What amuses you?” she demanded.
“You do, my dear. Where did Emily come by this invaluable piece of-gossip?” He moved over to the fire and sat down.
She followed him and knelt on the floor in front of him, commanding his attention.
“From Sophie Bolsover, who seemed to be quite unaware of its importance. And that is not all. Apparently Sir Robert is much older than Euphemia, and very grand and grim. And he has fair hair.”
“Fair hair?” Pitt repeated, looking at her; but his eyes were sharper now. Her heart bumped with excitement. She knew she had woken his interest.
“Yes!”
“I take it Brandon Balantyne is dark?”
“Very. You see?”
“Of course I see. Euphemia has the most beautiful red-gold hair and very fair skin. You would not know, but naturally, Emily will have told you!”
She smiled in great satisfaction.
He touched her cheek gently with his fingers, finding a loose strand of her hair; but his face was unusually stern.
“Charlotte, you must warn Emily to be careful. People in society care very much about their reputations; they matter to them more than we can understand. They may take it very ill if Emily meddles-”
“I know,” she assured him quickly, “I told her. But she will try to learn how long the affair has been going on, if it was already begun when the babies died.”
“No. Leave it for me to do. You must call on her tomorrow. Warn her again.” His hand fell and he gripped her shoulder as she stiffened with quick apprehension. “They are not likely to think her anything more than a nosy woman,” he went on, “with nothing better to amuse herself than gossip, but if Robert Carlton is powerful-”
