more than most. Then she had murdered the most brilliant, dazzling, creative architect of the age, all to further her own comfort and ambition, and to find a good marriage for her adopted daughter-whether she wanted it or not. Appearance had been everything, beauty, glitter-as shallow as the skin. The passion and hope and pain of the heart beneath had been thrown away. He could not let himself think it could all just happen and no one could call for any accountability, any justice, any regret at all. All kinds of arguments raged through his head, and even as he thought of each one, he knew it was no use.
'Can we?' Hester asked, her face puckered. She had not known Keelin Melville; she had not even been at court this time, as she had in most of the other cases he had cared about deeply. It was strange, and he realized now he had missed her. But Gabriel Sheldon was tied inextricably to it, because Martha Jackson was part of his household, part of Perdita's life, and because he too knew what it was like to be disfigured, to know his face, the outer part of him everyone saw and judged him by so easily, filled people with revulsion, even with fear. He was an outcast of the same kind, a victim of a world where sight ruled so much. Hester understood it.
And she understood Keelin Melville, a woman fighting to succeed in a world where men made all the rules and judged only by the yardstick of their own preconceptions, not by reality of courage or skill or achievement. She had seen others sacrificed to it, and eventually crushed.
'We must!' he said fiercely, leaning farther forward. 'We must find a way.'
'It's all gone,' she pointed out, her mouth tight, her eyes sad. 'Will they dig her up again, do you suppose?'
He had to be honest. There was not the slightest chance, not on the belief he had now. No one would want to consider it, to raise such a hideous possibility, face the suit for criminal libel if they were wrong.
'No.'
She looked at his empty plate. 'Do you want some more soup?'
'No! I want to think of a way to prove what happened to Keelin Melville and find some justice for those two abandoned and unloved children!' He sighed. 'And I want some kind of vengeance… some balancing of the scales.'
She sat in silence for a while again, cupping her chin in her hands.
He waited, searching for an answer in his mind, going over the details of the case, all the questions and answers. He was warm, physically comfortable, but exhaustion was creeping over him and he was finding it harder and harder to concentrate.
The door opened and Martha came in carrying a tray with fresh tea on it. Her eyes were bright and calm and there was a glow in her cheeks. She set the tray down on the table, smiling at him. She was almost too full of emotion to find words.
'Mr. Monk… I-I can't…' She shook her head. 'I just don't know how to say what you've done for me. You're… the best man I know. I never truly thought it was possible… but you found them. I wish I could give you more…' She was clearly embarrassed, feeling nothing she had was sufficient reward for him.
'I don't need any more payment, Miss Jackson,' he said without even having to think about it. 'You already gave me sufficient for all my expenses.' That was not quite true, but close enough.
She hesitated.
'Except the tea,' he added.
She remembered and poured it immediately. It was steaming and fragrant.
'Are they all right?' he asked.
'Oh, yes,' she murmured, nodding. 'Oh, yes… they will be. Everyone's very good. Finding them clothes and boots and so on. Tillie gave Phemie one of her dresses, and Agnes found one for Leda, and a petticoat with frills on it. Sarah gave them both stockings.' She blinked hastily. 'And she was looking for sheets and blankets for them, and deciding which room would be best. Put them in together, in case they get lonely, or frightened in a new place. And then Miss Perdita came down and she was so nice to them.' She said it as if she hardly dared believe it was true. 'She said they could stay here all the time.'
Monk smiled back at her. “I know.'
She hesitated only a moment longer, then excused herself and turned back to the kitchen and the excitement again.
Monk sipped his tea gratefully.
'I wonder what would have happened if Samuel Jackson hadn't died…' Hester said thoughtfully.
'They would have lived ordinary, uncomfortable lives, laughed at by their peers, and possibly found service of some sort,' he answered. 'Possibly not. He would have loved them, perhaps taught them to read and write. But he did die, so it makes no difference now. We can't undo that. They'll be all right here.' He said it with assurance, thinking of the kindness in the kitchen already, everyone trying to help, willing to give of their own few possessions.
'That's not what I meant.' Hester was frowning, hardly listening to him. 'They would have been laughed at, wouldn't they? I mean, it would have been hard for them, for their family… for Dolly Jackson.'
'Of course. But she's done very well indeed. She's a wealthy woman in society, beautiful, respected, has a husband who loves her and a beautiful daughter no one knows is not hers, except us.'
'Exactly,' she agreed, looking at him.
'Hester…?' A thought began in his mind.
'What did he die of?' she asked softly.
'Bleeding… bleeding in the stomach.'
'What caused it?'
'I-I don't know. Illness?' His mouth was suddenly dry.
'How convenient for Dolly Jackson,' Hester said, looking at him very steadily.
He put his cup down. His hands were clumsy, stiff. 'Poison?'
'I don't know. But I want to know. Don't you?'
'Yes… and I'm going to find out.'
'I'm coming with you.…'
'I don't know that I-I don't know what…' he began.
'I can help.' Her face was set in immovable determination. 'We'll start tomorrow. When I tell Gabriel he'll insist.' She stood up.
'I'm not sure you should. We may be wrong.'
She looked at him with eyes wide, her mouth twisted in a mixture of urgency and anger. 'We'll need money. I haven't any. Have you?'
'No.' He was too tired to argue. And anyway, she was right.
'Then it's settled. I'll go and talk to Gabriel about it, and he'll give us some. We'll start tomorrow morning- early!' She wrinkled her nose at him, and she went out of the room with a swish of skirts, held high. He heard her heels light and rapid along the corridor.
They did start out very early the following day. By half past eight on a blustery spring morning they were in a hansom on the way east and south to Putney. Gabriel had been generous with all he could spare, his only regret being that he was not yet well enough to come with them, and an acute awareness that his disfigurement might prove a hindrance. Meeting strangers was a difficulty he had yet to overcome. It would always be painful. No matter how many times he did it, for them it would always be the first time. The horror and embarrassment would be new.
Now Monk and Hester were sitting side by side in the hansom bowling along at a smart pace through the elegant streets of Chelsea, with the river glinting in the light. To the left lay Battersea Reach, curving away from them. They would pass the gas works and go along the Kings Road with Eel Brook Common to the right. Beyond that was Parsons Green and the Putney Bridge to the south. It was a very long journey.
There was so much to say, and yet he was uncertain where to begin. From Tavistock Square, where he had picked her up, she had told him how Leda and Phemie were this morning, and how changed they seemed already, with clean clothes, washed hair and good food. They were still terrified, expecting each moment to wake up and discover it was all a cruel dream. But they did seem to understand quite a lot, if spoken to slowly and in simple words. The thing that was most apparent was their affection for each other-and their awe and wonder at the thought that Martha actually liked them, rather than simply wished to use them. They flinched if approached too
