The Repentant Rake

    'Oh!' said Lucy, entering the room. 'Am I interrupting something?'

    'Not at all,' said Christopher, getting up to welcome her. 'You could never interrupt anyone in your own house, Mrs Cheever. We are the guests, not you.'

    Lucy sat down and indicated that he should follow suit. Susan's hopes were raised. Her sister-in-law was calm and poised. After a period of reflection, she might have decided to speak more openly about certain matters. The important thing was to leave her alone with Christopher. Susan bided her time.

    'I cannot thank you enough, Mr Redmayne,' said Lucy.

    'Wait until the whole business is over before you thank anyone,' said Christopher. 'We caught the most vicious of them but others are still at large, including the man who set up the murder. I want to find out why your husband was killed.'

    'So do I.'

    'And where,' he stressed.

    'Yes,' she murmured tossing a glance at Susan.

    'Do you have any idea, Mrs Cheever?'

    Lucy lowered her head and gazed at the floor. There was a long pause. Susan took the opportunity to make an excuse and withdraw to the next room, closing the door firmly behind her. Christopher knew that he might never again get such a good chance of winning Lucy's confidence. He tried to be as gentle as he could.

    'Mrs Cheever,' he began, 'I think I know why you are holding back.'

    'Do you?' she said, looking up at him with alarm.

    'Let me say at once that I respect your rights of conscience.'

    'Not everyone takes that view, alas.'

    'I do,' he assured her. 'I admire anybody who is true to her beliefs.'

    'Even if those beliefs are forbidden?'

    'Especially then.'

    Lucy was uneasy. 'When did you guess, Mr Redmayne?'

    'When Mr Bale spoke to one of your neighbours. She told him how devout you and your husband were. I remembered seeing the crucifix on the wall.'

    'There is no harm in that,' she said defensively.

    'As far as I am concerned, there is no harm in anything you do, Mrs Cheever. Though I do appreciate your desire to keep it from the rest of the family. Your sister-in-law would be very understanding,' he said looking towards the dining room, 'but I could not promise the same of Sir Julius or of his elder daughter. It should be kept from them.'

    'That is why we were so secretive.'

    'Did your husband embrace the Old Religion as well?'

    'Gabriel was taking instruction.'

    'A case of true repentance, then.'

    'Very much so, Mr Redmayne,' she said softly. 'I was brought up in the Roman Catholic religion. My parents were devout, my uncle was a Jesuit priest who had to flee abroad. These are dangerous times for people like myself. The King has a Catholic wife yet we are still cruelly persecuted.'

    'How did your husband come to share your views?'

    'It was a slow process. At first, Gabriel was very cynical about religion in general. His faith had never helped him, he said. But he came to see just how important it is to have a spiritual side to your life.'

    'Apart from anything else, it was the only way that he could be close to you.'

    'Yes, Mr Redmayne.'

    'Love came first and commitment followed.'

    'Only after long arguments.'

    'You must have been a powerful advocate.'

    'No,' she said. 'I was simply someone who believed so strongly in my faith that I would not compromise it to be with the man I loved.' A painful memory made her wince. 'And yet I did compromise. I've been tormented by guilt ever since.'

    'Guilt?'

    'I was forced to make a choice, Mr Redmayne.'

    'Between what?'

    'Gabriel and my family.'

    'Was there no possibility of reconciling the two?'

    'None whatsoever,' she explained. 'Mother could never have accepted a man with Gabriel's past. She would have forbidden the marriage just as forcefully as Sir Julius would have done, had he known about it.'

    'Who performed the ceremony?'

    There was another pause. 'Someone we could trust.'

    'In other words, a Catholic priest.'

    'I would never marry under any other conditions,' she affirmed. 'Gabriel knew that and he accepted it. Eventually, that is.'

    'Those long arguments must have been quite acrimonious at times.'

    'They were punishing for both of us.'

    'But you achieved harmony in the end.'

    'Yes,' said Lucy, her features lighting up for an instant. 'When we were together we were so happy. Gabriel told me that I had saved his life.' Her face clouded. 'Yet, in another sense, I was responsible for his death.'

    'That is absurd,' he told her.

    'If he had not met me, he would still be alive.'

    'Not necessarily.'

    'He only turned his back on his friends because of me,' she argued. 'In that world, he was safe, popular and successful. Gabriel had a name.'

    'But not one of which he could be altogether proud' said Christopher. 'His was an ugly world, Mrs Cheever, full of cruelty, deception and licentiousness. I know, believe me. I've had to wade through that swamp myself. What you did' he went on, 'was to take him away from it all. You not only gave him a new life, you saved his soul.'

    Tears welled up in her eyes. 'That's what I try to tell myself, Mr Redmayne.'

    'It's the truth.'

    'Thank you.'

    'Where was he on the night of his murder?'

    'I am not sure,' she said, biting her lip. 'I know where he was supposed to be.'

    'And where was that?'

    Lucy hesitated. 'I cannot give you a name.'

    'I accept that.'

    'If it were known that he was living there, it could be fatal for him.'

    'Nobody will be told a thing, Mrs Cheever. On my word of honour.'

    'What about Mr Bale?' she asked suspiciously. 'He is bound to ask why you are going there. Mr Bale is a good man but he is no friend to the Old Religion. His duty is to suppress it. What will you tell him?'

    Christopher was explicit. 'No more than he needs to know.'

    Lucy closed her eyes and agonised for minutes before making a decision. 'Gabriel was going to take instruction that night,' she said at length. 'It was somewhere in Warwick Lane.'

    'Warwick Lane?'

    'Near the junction of Newgate Street. Do not ask me to tell you which house,' she said forlornly, 'because I have sworn never to divulge its exact whereabouts. But that is where Gabriel would have been, Mr Redmayne. My husband may well have been murdered somewhere in that vicinity.'

    'Thank you,' he said with feeling. 'We will go there at once.'

    'You will search for him, will you?'

    'No, Mrs Cheever. All that we will hunt for are some stones.'

    'Stones?'

    'Yes, Mr Bale tells me there were some small stones caught up in Gabriel's coat. He's kept them as