2
It was three days after this that Charlotte received another letter from Caroline touching on the same subject. This time she did speak of it to Pitt. They were sitting in front of the fire after Jemima had been put to sleep; Charlotte was sewing, and Pitt was gazing into the flames and sinking gently lower and lower into his chair.
'Thomas.' Charlotte looked up from her work and held the needle in the air.
He turned his head and hitched himself a little higher before his feet slipped over the fender. The light flickered and jumped warmly in its glowing brass. -
'Yes?'
'I had a letter from Mama today,' she remarked casually. 'She is distressed about the recent loss of a piece of jewelry.'
His eyes narrowed. He knew Charlotte a great deal better than she suspected.
'When you say 'loss,' I take it you do not mean that she misplaced it?' he inquired.
Charlotte hesitated. 'I'm really not quite sure. She may have.' She picked up her work again to give herself time to arrange her words. She had not expected him to perceive quite so quickly. Actually, she had thought he was very nearly asleep.
After a moment or two she looked across at him and found his eyes bright and waiting, watching her through his lashes. She took a long breath and abandoned the idea of subtlety.
'It was a locket and there was a picture of somebody inside it,' she went on. 'She would not say who, but I gathered it was someone whose presence she would prefer not to explain.' She smiled a little self-consciously. 'Perhaps it was an old love, someone she knew before Papa?'
He straightened up and took his legs off the fender; his feet were getting hot and he would scorch his slippers if he was not careful.
'And she thinks someone has taken it?' he asked the obvious.
'Yes,' Charlotte said. 'I think she does.'
'Any idea who?'
She shook her head. 'If she has, she won't say so. And pf course if she were to report the loss, it would cause far more unpleasantness than even having it returned would be worth.''
Pitt needed no further explanation. He was perfectly familiar with Society's feelings about having police in the house, with the attendant vulgarity. One reported a break-in, of course, and that was regrettable enough, but at least a break-in was an outside affair, a misfortune that could happen to anyone with goods worth the taking. Domestic crime was different; it was some shy;thing that might involve the questioning, and resultant embar shy;rassment, of one's friends, and therefore resorting to the police was unthinkable.
'Does she expect you to play discreet detective?' he asked with a broad smile.
'I'm not a bad detective,' she said defensively. 'In Paragon Walk I knew the truth before you did!' As soon as she had spoken, memory came back and brought with it ugliness and pain, and self-congratulation became ridiculous, almost indecent.
'That was murder,' he pointed out soberly. 'And you nearly got yourself killed for your cleverness. You can hardly go around asking your mother's friends, 'Do you happen to have stolen Mama's locket, and if so, would you please give it back unopened, because it contains some indiscretion, or a picture that might be interpreted as such.' '
'You're not being very helpful!' Charlotte said crossly. 'If I could have done it as easily as that, I wouldn't have needed to ask you about it!'
He sat up straight and leaned forward to take her hand. 'My darling, if it really does contain something private, then the less said about it the better. Leave it alone!'
She frowned. 'It's more than that, Thomas. She feels some shy;one is watching her, and waiting!'
He screwed up his face. 'You mean someone has already opened it and is waiting for an opportunity to apply a little blackmail?'
'Yes, I suppose I do.' Her fingers grasped around his. 'It's horrid, and I think she's really quite frightened.'
'If I come in, it will only make it worse,' he said softly. 'And I can't officially anyway, unless she calls me.'
'I know.' Her fingers tightened.
'Charlotte, be careful. I know you mean well, but, my dear, you have a transparent face and a tongue about as subtle as an avalanche.'
'Oh, that's unfair!' she protested, although at least half of her knew it was not. 'I shall be very careful!'
'I still think it would be better if you left it alone-unless someone actually does try blackmail. There may be nothing to it-no more than your mother's own fears painting shadows on the wall. Perhaps a little conscience?'
'I can't do nothing,' she said unhappily. 'She has asked me to come see her, and I can't leave her so distressed without doing all I am able to.'
'I suppose not,' he conceded. 'But for goodness' sake, do as little as you can. Questions will only arouse curiosity and are more likely than anything else to bring about the very specula shy;tions she is afraid of!'
Charlotte knew he was right and she nodded, but at the same time she was already making plans to call at Rutland Place the following day.
She found Caroline in and awaiting her anxiously.
'My dear, I'm so glad you were able to come,' she said, kissing Charlotte on the cheek. 'I have planned for us to make a few calls this afternoon, so you can meet some of the other people in the Place-particularly those I am best acquainted with myself, and to whose houses I have been, or who have come here.'
Charlotte's heart sank. Obviously, Caroline intended to pursue the pendant.
'Do you not think it would be better to be quite casual about it, Mama?' she asked as lightly as she could. 'You do not wish anyone to realize how important it is to you, or their curiosity will be aroused. Whereas if you say nothing, it may pass almost without remark.'
Caroline's lips tightened. 'I wish I could believe that, but I feel terribly sure that whoever it is already knows-' She stopped.
'Knows what?' Charlotte asked.
'Knows that it is mine, and that it is important to me,' Caroline finished awkwardly. 'I told you-I can feel them, feel their eyes on me. And don't say it's foolish! I know it is, but I'm as sure as I have ever been of anything that there is some- person-here who is watching, watching and laughing!' She shivered. 'And hating! I–I have even felt once or twice as if they were following me, in the dusk.' The red color burned uncomfortably in her cheeks.
'That person sounds like somebody mad,' Charlotte said as levelly as she could. 'Very unpleasant, but more to be pitied than feared.'
Caroline shook her head sharply. 'I would prefer to be sorry for madness at a much greater distance.'
Charlotte was shaken. Her voice came far more roughly, more critically than she had intended.
'So would most people,' she said, 'I think that is what is called 'passing by on the other side.' ' Then she stopped, aware of how unjust she was being. She was confused; she was afraid Caroline was hysterical, and she did not know how to treat it.
A look of amazement crossed Caroline's face, followed swiftly by anger.
'Are you suggesting I owe some Christian duty to this crea shy;ture who stole my pendant, and now is peeping at me and following me?' she said incredulously.
Charlotte was ashamed and angry with herself. She should not have spoken her thoughts so bluntly, especially since they had nothing to do with the problem, and would hardly be of comfort in what was now obviously a far deeper matter than she had appreciated.
'No,' she said gravely. 'I am trying to make you see that it is not as serious as you believe. If whoever stole or found the pendant is really watching you, and sniggering behind the curtains, then they are not quite right in their minds, and need not.be feared so much as viewed with revulsion, and some sense of pity as well. It is not like a personal enemy who wished you harm and had the ability to bring it about.'
'You don't understand!' Caroline shut her eyes in exasperation, and the muscles in her face were tight. 'They
