“Perhaps you would care to come with me,” Veronica offered. “I should be delighted to have your company. We could make all the remarks we wished and be utterly frank about what we like and dislike.” She did not look at her mother-in-law, but raised one slender shoulder in the smallest gesture of exclusion.
“I should be delighted,” Charlotte accepted sincerely. “It would be the greatest pleasure.” She was aware of Jack coughing in the chair next to hers and reaching for a handkerchief to hide his smile.
“Then it is settled,” Veronica said firmly. “It is not a favorite outing of Mama-in-law’s. I am sure she will be grateful for being spared it this year.”
“I have accompanied you to many places that were not especially to my liking!” Mrs. York said with cold eyes on Veronica. “And doubtless will do so again. Family responsibilities are something one never grows out of, nor is one able to escape them. I am sure you would agree with me, Miss Barnaby?” She spoke to Charlotte, but it was Veronica her glance fell on first, before turning with a change of expression so slight it was barely definable. Charlotte had the sudden, intense feeling that the two women disliked each other, perhaps even more than that.
Veronica stiffened, and a tightness crept into her neck, the long line of her throat, and her passionate mouth. She said nothing. Charlotte believed they were speaking of something quite different, and for all the tension between them and the underlying violence, they understood each other perfectly.
“Of course,” Charlotte murmured. After all, she was supposed to have spent the last two years nursing a sickly relative. What sacrifice to duty could an unmarried woman have greater than that? “Families are bound by both love and obligation.” It was almost time for them to leave. She must make one last effort at learning something deeper, beyond this sharp, unhappy impression. She discreetiy glanced rapidly round the room, without turning her head. She noticed an ormolu clock. If she were going to lie, she might as well do it in the grand manner.
“Oh what a delightful clock,” she said admiringly. “My cousin used to have one very like that, only a trifle smaller, I think, and one of the figures was clothed differently.” She shivered to add verisimilitude. “Unfortunately it was taken in a robbery. Such a dreadful experience.” She ignored Jack’s horrified expression and plunged on. “Quite as painful as the loss of possessions was the awful feeling that someone had broken into your house and perhaps actually stood within yards of your bedroom as you lay asleep! It took us all ages before we could retire again with the slightest peace of mind.” Through her lashes she was watching their faces. She was rewarded by a gasp from Veronica and a sudden rigidity in Mrs. York’s body under its folds of sumptuous silk. “We called the police, of course,” she went on relentlessly, “but no one was caught. And none of our precious things was ever recovered.”
Veronica opened her mouth, sat perfectly still, then closed it without speaking.
“What a misfortune for you.” Mrs. York’s voice was quite low, but there was a curious edge to it, and her words were unusually distinct, as if her control over them were precarious. “I am afraid it is part of present-day life. One is seldom as safe as one imagines. Be thankful, Miss Barnaby, that it was only goods of which you were robbed.”
Charlotte maintained her facade of innocence, although it stabbed her conscience. She gazed back at Mrs. York in bewilderment. Jack had already affected ignorance of the affair, so he could not now help. Charlotte saw the color drain from Veronica’s face. Again she seemed about to speak but then to lose the words. She raised her eyes to her mother-in-law, then before their glances met she looked away again.
Finally it was the older woman who broke the hot silence.
“My son was killed by an intruder in the house, Miss Barnaby. It is something we still find too distressing to discuss. That is what made me say you were fortunate to have lost only material possessions.”
“Oh, I am so sorry!” Charlotte said instantly. “Please forgive me for having brought you pain. How could I have been so clumsy.” A real feeling of guilt was burning inside her already. Not everything can be justified by the need for solutions to mysteries, however intriguing, or needed for Emily’s sake.
“You could not know,” Veronica said huskily. “Please do not feel at fault. I promise you, we do not hold you so.”
“I am sure your sensitivity will prevent you from raising the subject again,” Mrs. York said levelly, and Charlotte felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
Veronica was quick to see her embarrassment and rushed to ease it. “That hardly needs to be said, Mama-in- law!” Her tone carried reproof, and the undertone of dislike was there again, bleak and painful in this opulent and comfortable room. It was not a flash of irritation but a long-lived and bitter thing, surfacing suddenly. “I am sure Miss Barnaby needs to feel no blame for having mentioned her own misfortune; how could she have known of our —our tragedies? One cannot cease from all conversation in case it should waken a painful memory in someone else.”
“I believe that was the substance of my remark.” Mrs. York stared at her daughter-in-law, her brilliant eyes almost hypnotic in their concentration. “If Miss Barnaby is the person of sensibility I take her to be, having discovered our loss, she will not mention any subject close to it again while in our company. Surely that is plain enough?”
Veronica turned to Charlotte and put out her hand. “I hope you will call on us again, Miss Barnaby, and that you will come to the academy with me. I most sincerely meant my invitation; it was not merely a pleasantry.”
“I shall be delighted,” Charlotte said, taking the offered hand warmly. “It will be the greatest pleasure, and I look forward to it.” She rose. It was now time to leave; after that conversation it was the only possible course. Jack rose also and together they expressed their thanks and good wishes, and five minutes later they were in the chilly carriage with the clatter of hooves and the hissing of wheels in the rain. Charlotte wrapped the rug round herself more tightly, but nothing could keep all the icy spears of the draft away. Next time she borrowed a gown from Emily she would take a fur muff to go with it!
“I assume you will be going to the academy with Veronica?” Jack said after a moment or two.
“Of course!” She turned in her seat to look at him. “Don’t you think there is a great deal between Veronica and Mrs. York which the police could never discover? I think they both know something about the night of the burglary —although how we’ll ever learn it I can’t imagine.”
3
PITT HAD NO IDEA that Charlotte had gone to Hanover Close. He both knew and understood her concern for Emily, and he expected her to use all her powers of judgment and deduction to find out just how Emily felt about Jack Radley and to measure his worthiness if Emily truly cared for him. And if it turned out he was not satisfactory,
