“There was nothing from their parents?”
Genevieve shook her head.
“If there was, it was so little, it was used long ago. Do you care for milk? Certainly Angus began his business by joining a firm, as any young man might do.” She passed the cup over. “Caleb could have done the same, except that he was so reckless, and so lazy in his studies, that he had not equipped himself to be of use. But again, that was his choice.” She was staring at Hester now. “Sometimes I think Angus was sorry for Caleb, and there were times when I knew he was afraid of him.”
Hester took the tea and thanked her. It was hot and fresh, and she was glad of it.
“It took a great deal of courage for Angus to return to Limehouse and find Caleb,” Genevieve went on. “After he had been badly hurt and he was, more than once. He was always tired, and depressed, and I begged him not to return.
It is not as if Caleb cared for him, or was even grateful for the help Angus gave him. It made me so angry… and then that distressed him. He said he could not help it. Caleb was his brother, his twin, and he was bound by a tie which he could not break. When I realized how it hurt him, I ceased to speak of it.”
She looked down again, ignoring her tea, her eyes brimming with tears.
“If you had known Angus, you would understand. There was a goodness in him, an honor unlike anyone else I have known. The only other man as gentle, and with anything like the same inward love of what is good, is Mr. Niven. I think that is why they were friends, and why I feel I can turn to him now.
Angus would have understood that.”
There was nothing further to pursue, except facts, and Hester was not even sure what use they would be. Nevertheless she asked Genevieve precisely in which street she had grown up, where and when she had first met Caleb, how she had met Angus, and all she could remember of that early relationship.
“I barely knew Caleb!” she said bitterly. “I swear to you that is the truth. He was a violent man, even for Limehouse. He frightened me. I think he frightened everyone. He was so like Angus in build and feature, and yet so unlike him in nature that no one could mistake one for the other. The way he walked, the way he stood, his voice, everything was wild and…
I don't know how to describe it.” She frowned, struggling with recollection. “As if he were always angry, as if there were something inside him so full of rage it was held in only by the frailest thread, and any provocation at all and it would explode and be free to hurt and destroy whatever stood in its path.” Hester did not interrupt her, but quietly sipped her tea and watched Genevieve's face.
“I suppose he must have had a gentler side,” Genevieve went on, her voice lower. “That poor creature Selina seemed to have cared for him.” She bit her lip. “I don't know why I speak of her like that. I started in the same place, just three streets away. I could easily have been there now, if I had never met Angus, and he had not had the patience and the love to teach me how to better myself, to speak well enough to pass as respectable, if not as a lady.”
She smiled ruefully, and began her tea at last. “He taught me how to carry myself, how to dress, how to conduct myself with others. I would never have passed for gentry, and have entertained in my own home, but over the years I have learned more confidence, and I don't believe I ever embarrassed him in front of his colleagues. You see, he was the opposite of Caleb, he had endless patience. I cannot remember him ever losing his temper. He would have considered it wrong, that he was betraying the best in himself.” “I wish I had known him,” Hester said sincerely. He might have been a trifle pompous, perhaps he lacked humor or imagination, but he must have been a man of immense kindness and an inner integrity which was both rare and beautiful. “Thank you for telling me so much.” She rose to take her leave.
“I am sorry to have had to ask you. It must have given you pain.” “And pleasure.” Genevieve rose also. “I like to talk about him. It is very sad when people cease to mention someone when he is dead. It is almost like denying he ever lived. I am glad you wanted to know.”
Monk already knew from Genevieve where Angus had grown up, and even before Ebenezer Goode had left his home, Monk was in a hansom bound for the railway station and the first train to the Berkshire village of Chilverley. It was a tedious journey, necessitating a number of changes and delays, moving from cozy waiting room with fire, to icy, wind-raked platforms, then chilly trains. It was quarter to eleven when he finally stepped off at Chilverley in a bright, hard wind.
“Chilverley Hall?” the stationmaster said obligingly. “Yes sir. About three miles north from here. That way.” He pointed half behind him. “Know Colonel Patterson, do you? You look like a military man, if I may say so.” Monk was astonished. Had it not been so contrary to his own interests, he would have let his temper have full rein.
“Colonel Patterson?” he said grimly. “This is Chilverley?”
“Yes sir, Chilverley, Berkshire.” He looked at Monk anxiously. “Who were you looking for, sir?”
“The family home of Lord Ravensbrook.”
“Oh, bless you, sir. It is the family home of the Ravensbrooks, but he don't live here no more. Sold it. Moved up to live in London, so they say.”
“I'm surprised it wasn't entailed,” Monk said irrelevantly.
“Daresay it might have been.” The stationmaster wagged his head. “But Lord Milo were the last o' the line. No reason why he shouldn't sell, if he wanted. Must have got a tidy sum for it.” He touched his cap respectfully as two gentlemen, one in a Norfolk jacket, the other in a greatcoat, went by and through the gate to the road.
“No brothers, or even cousins?” Monk had no reason to ask, it simply occurred to him.
The stationmaster turned back to him.
“No sir. Had one brother, younger than him, but he was killed, poor soul.
Accident it was, in Italy, or some such place.” He shook his head.
“Drowned, they say. Pity, that was. He were a very charming gentleman, if a bit wild. Very handsome, and a bit free with the ladies, and with his money. Still, a sad end for one so young.”
“How old was he?” Again it hardly mattered.
“No more than thirty-one or thirty-two,” the stationmaster answered. “It's all a long time ago now, well over quarter of a century, nearer thirty-five years.”
“Would you know if any of the old servants are still at the house?” “Oh no, sir. All left when his lordship did. Colonel Patterson brought his own household with him.”
“Is there no one I could find who lived in the house then?” Monk pressed.
“What about outside staff? Even a gardener, gamekeeper, coachman? Is it still the same vicar as it was then?”
The stationmaster nodded. “Oh, yes. Mr. Nicolson is still the vicar.
Vicarage is opposite the church, just beyond that second stand of elms.” He pointed. “Can't miss it. Just follow the road 'round. About two miles from here, sir.”
“Thank you. I'm obliged to you for your time and your courtesy.” And without waiting for any acknowledgment, Monk strode out in the direction the stationmaster had indicated.
The wind sighed through the bare branches of the elms and a cloud of rooks soared up into the air, disturbed by some predatory cat. Their black, tangled nests were low in the forks, towards the trunks. It had been a hard winter.
The vicar was an elderly man, but spry and bright-eyed. He greeted Monk over the hedge from where he had been looking hopefully at the green lawn and first spears of bulbs showing through.
Monk gave the briefest of explanations as to his purpose.
The vicar regarded him with a lively interest.
“Yes sir, of course I can. What a fine morning, isn't it? Won't be long before the daffodils come through. Love a good show of daffodils. Come into the parlor, my dear fellow. Got a decent fire going. Get the chill out of yourself.”
He came to the gate and opened it for Monk to walk through. Then he led him up a chipped stone path to the door, which was heavily bowered with honeysuckle, now a dark tangle of stems not yet showing green.
“In fact, would you like a spot of luncheon?” he invited, showing Monk the way inside, where it was immediately warm. “Hate to eat alone. Uncivilized.
Good conversation best for a meal, don't you think?” He went through the overcrowded hall and opened the door into a bright, chintzcurtained room.
