harm us in the least. And we shall inquire of the Deptford policemen as to the state of the body of Albie Frobisher. Perhaps we may even be permitted to see it.'
'Emily! You can't! Whatever reason could we give for such a biza'rre thing? Ladies do not go to view the corpses of prostitutes pulled out of the river! They wouldn't allow us.'
'You will tell them who you are,' Emily replied, crossing the hall and beginning up the stairs so they could prepare their appearance for the day. 'And I shall tell them who I am, and what my purpose is. I am collecting information on social conditions because it is desired that there should be reform.'
'Is it?' Charlotte was not put off; it was merely a remark. 'I thought it wasn't. That is why we must excite people's sympathy-and anger.'
'It is desired by me,' Emily replied with literal truth. 'That is sufficient for a policeman in Deptford!'
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* * *
Somerset Carlisle received them without surprise. Apparently, Emily had had the forethought to warn him of their coming, and he was at home with the fire piled high and hot chocolate pre-pared. The study was littered with papers, and in the best chair a long, lean black cat with topaz eyes lay stretched, blinking unconcernedly. It seemed to have no intention of moving even when Emily nearly sat on it. It simply allowed her to push it to one side, then rearranged itself across her knee. Carlisle was so accustomed to the creature he did not even notice.
Charlotte sat in the chair near the fire, determined that Emily should not dictate this conversation.
'Albie Frobisher has been murdered,' she said before Emily had time to approach the subject with any delicacy.' 'He was stran-gled and put in the river. Now we shall never be able to question him again to see if he changes his testimony at all. But Emily has pointed out'-she must be fair, or she would make a fool of herself-'that his death will be an excellent tool to engage the sympathy of the people whose influence we wish for.'
Carlisle's face showed his disgust at the event, and an unusu-ally personal anger.
'Not much use to Jerome!' he said harshly. 'Unfortunately, people like Albie are murdered for too many reasons, and most of them perfectly obvious, to assume it related to any particular incident.'
'The girl prostitute has gone, too,' Charlotte continued. 'Abigail Winters. She's disappeared, so we can't ask her either. But Thomas did say that he thinks neither Jerome nor Arthur Wayboume ever went there, to her rooms, because there is an old woman at the door who watches everyone like a rat, and she makes them all pay her to pass. She never saw them, and neither did any of the other girls.'
Emily's mouth curled in revulsion as her imagination con-jured up the place for her. She put out her hand and stroked the black cat.
'There would be a procuress,' Carlisle said, 'and no doubt a few strong men around to deal with anyone who caused trouble. It's all part of the mutual arrangement. It would be a very
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sly girl indeed who managed to smuggle in private customers- and a brave one. Or else a fool!'
'We need more facts.' Emily would not allow herself to be excluded from the conversation any longer. 'Can you tell us how a girl who begins as respectable ends up on the streets in places like these? If we are to move people, we must tell them about the ones they can feel sorry for, not just the ones born in Bluegate Fields and St. Giles, whom they imagine never desire anything else.'
'Of course.' He turned to his desk and shuffled through piles of papers and loose sheets, coming up at last with the ones he wanted.' 'These are rates of pay in match factories and furniture shops, and pictures of necrosis of the jaw caused by handling phosphorus. Here are the piecework rates for stitching shirts and ragpicking. These are conditions for entry into a workhouse, and what they are like inside. And this is the poor law with regard to children. Don't forget a lot of women who are on the streets are there because they have children to support, and not necessarily illegitimate by any means. Some are widows, and the husbands of some have just left, either for another woman or simply because they couldn't stand the responsibility.'
Emily took the papers and Charlotte moved beside her to
