own feelings to show, as Pitt so often did. And he was extremely personable, dressed like a gentleman, neat and without ostentation-not a veritable scarecrow like Pitt!
All this passed through Athelstan's mind as he stared at Pitt, and most of it was plain in his eyes. Pitt knew him well. He ran the department satisfactorily. He seldom wasted time pursuing pointless cases; he sent his men into the witness box well prepared-it was a rare day they were made to look foolish. And no charge of corruption had been leveled against any man in his division for over a decade.
Pitt sighed and stood back at last. Athelstan was probably right. Jerome was almost certainly guilty. Charlotte was bending the facts to suppose otherwise. While it was conceivable that it could have been the two boys, it was not remotely likely; and quite honestly, he did not believe they had been lying to him. There was an innate sense of truth about them, and he could feel it, just as he could usually tell a liar. Charlotte was
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letting her emotions rule her head. That was unusual for her, but it was a feminine characteristic, and she was a woman! Pity was no bad thing, but it should not be allowed to distort the truth till it became disproportionate.
He resented Athelstan's use of force to prevent him from going back to Way bourne, but he was probably right in principle. Nothing would be served by it but to prolong the pain. Eugenie Jerome was going to suffer; it was time he accepted it and stopped trying to evade it, like some child that expects a happy ending to every story. False hope was cruel. He would have to have a long talk with Charlotte, make her see the harm she was doing by rigging up a preposterous theory like this. Jerome was a tragic man, tragic and dangerous. Pity him, by all means, but do not try to make other people pay even more dearly than they already have for his sickness.
'Yes, sir,' he said aloud. 'No doubt Sir Anstey will have his own physician make such checks as are advisable, without our saying anything.'
Athelstan blinked. It was not the answer he had expected.
'No doubt,' he agreed awkwardly. 'Although I hardly think-well-that-be that as it may, it's none of our affair. Family problem-man has a right to his privacy-part of being a gentleman, the respecting of other men's privacy. Glad you understand that!'' His eyes still held the last trace of uncertainty. It was a question.
'Yes, sir,' Pitt repeated. 'And, as you say, there's not much point in checking someone like Albie Frobisher-if he hasn't got it today, he could have by tomorrow.'
Athelstan's face wrinkled in distaste.
'Quite. Now I'm sure you have something else to get on with? You'd better be about it, and leave me to deal with my appointment. I have a great many things to do. Lord Ernest Beaufort has been robbed. His town house. Bad thing to happen. I'd like to get it solved as soon as possible. Promised him I'd see to it myself. Can you spare me Gillivray? He's just the type to handle this.''
'Yes, sir. Certainly I can,' Pitt said with satisfaction sharply colored with spite. In the unlikely event they would ever find the thieves, the goods would be long gone by then,
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dispersed into a warren of silversmiths, pawnshops, and scrap dealers. Gillivray was too young to know them, too conspicuously clean to pass unremarked in the rookeries- as Pitt could, if he chose. The word would spread before Gillivray, with his pink face and white collar, as loudly as if he carried a bell around his neck. Pitt was ashamed of his satisfaction, but it did not stop the feeling or its warmth.
He walked out of Athelstan's office and back to his own. Passing Gillivray in the hallway, he sent him, face glowing in anticipation, up to Athelstan.
He went into his own office and sat down, staring at the statements and reports. Then, half an hour later, he threw all of them into a wire basket marked 'in,' snatched his coat from the stand, jammed his hat on his head, and strode out the door.
He caught the first hansom that passed, and clambered in shouting at the driver, 'Newgate!'
'Newgate, sir?' the cabbie said with a slight lift of surprise.
