She impatiently rang the bell for Daisy.
There was no reply, so she summoned a footman and told him to fetch her maid.
Daisy arrived, looking flustered. “Tm sorry,” she said, taking off her hat. “I didn’t think you’d be wanting me.”
“My mother tells me you were seen walking in the grounds with Becket.”
“I didn’t think you’d mind.”
Rose slumped down into a chair. “I am supposed to mind. Servants are not allowed followers or indeed any life of their own. Just like me.”
“Something bad’s happened. What is it?”
“My mother informs me that I am to go to India with Lady Trumpington next year.”
“With that horrible old cow!”
“Yes, Daisy. What am I to do?”
“Maybe we could do what you thought of. Become business women.”
“I am underage. They would simply come and fetch me, and if I persisted in staying, they would get some tame doctor to get me committed to an insane asylum.”
“You parents would never do that!”
“They might. A girl of my class working for her living would qualify as insanity in their minds. Oh, that reminds me. Margaret summoned Dr. Perriman. I asked if his predecessor would really have signed Mary Gore-Desmond’s death certificate. He said that old Dr. Jenner did a lot of research but when I asked on what subject, he said it was not suitable for my ears. What could it be?”
“Sexual problems, I suppose,” said Daisy. “Like gonorrhoea and syphilis.”
“How do you know such things?”
“A chorus girl down the East End has to know such things. Sometime we got some of the mashers from up west, trying their luck, particularly with the young ones like me.”
“Why was that? I mean, why the young ones?”
“They’d be hoping to find a virgin, like.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, they say that if a man with one of them diseases sleeps with a virgin, he’ll be cured. It happened to one of the girls, Ellie.”
“And what happened?”
“I don’t know what happened to him, the rat, but Ellie got syphilis.”
“Is there no cure?”
“I think you’re supposed to take mercury, but Ellie couldn’t afford doctor’s bills.”
“How awful. You didn’t ever…I mean, you haven’t…”
Daisy gave a cheeky grin. “Not yet. I’ve got fourteen brothers and sisters, but like the song says, we was poor but we was honest.”
“Don’t you miss your family?”
“Not much. Da drinks something awful and is always out of work. I seem to have worked at one thing or another since I was out of the cradle. Never mind me. What about India?”
“I’ll think of something,” said Rose desperately.
¦
Kerridge was taking a break from interviews by walking with Harry in the grounds. Somehow he felt comfortable in the company of the captain, subconsciously sensing a misfit like himself.
“What makes you think the servants are not involved?” asked Harry.
“Because I think Lord Hedley knows something he’s not telling us. I think he’s guilty about something. His voice is becoming hoarse and he doesn’t look well. When I first met him, he looked like our king on a good day.
“You see, the way I look at it is this. You people, you society people, lead very empty lives. Everything is given over to pleasure, and you slave at it. You don’t like the up-and-coming rich from the middle classes, so you invent silly things to keep them at bay. I was served a nice bit of fish last night. “Where’s the fish knife?” I asked. That butler Curzon looks down his nose at me and says, “We do not allow fish knives here.” So I’m supposed to eat my fish with a fork in one hand and a bit of bread in the other.
“The one deadly sin is ‘Thou Shalt Not Get Found Out’. They are releasing the full post-mortem report to me. It should be arriving by messenger tomorrow.”
“I admit Hedley does not look well,” said Harry. “But he does not look particularly guilty either.”
“Who does? Once a murderer’s photograph is published, everyone says, “Oh, look at those killer eyes,” forgetting that before that, they considered him a decent chap.”
“Is there any chance of you letting me know what’s in that report?”
“I’ll think about it. What about you and Lady Rose?”
“What about her?”
“Very attractive girl,” said Kerridge with a sly look.
“I admit she is attractive,” said Harry, “but she is the most unfeminine girl I have ever come across.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re dragging that bad leg of yours a bit. Let’s go back.”
¦
Harry’s idea that Rose was unfeminine was to receive what he considered shocking confirmation. Two hours before the dinner gong, he received a note asking him to meet her in the library.
As he made his way there, he felt amused. Perhaps Rose had formed a tendre for him. He would let her down gently.
He found Rose in the library accompanied by Becket and Daisy. He put the little pang of disappointment down to indigestion.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
“I asked Daisy and Becket to attend because it is a delicate subject. I need information.”
“Go ahead.”
Rose had armoured herself in full fashion. She was wearing a thin pale-green silk afternoon dress, with a trimming of dark green velvet. The boned bodice was trimmed with fine lace over green velvet. It had full sleeves and fitting inner sleeves. The wide belt round her small waist was decorated with tiny velvet bows.
Little green velvet shoes peeped out from below her gown as she drew forward a chair to sit down.
“Pray be seated, Captain,” she said. Daisy stood behind Rose’s chair and Becket behind Harry’s.
“I think we should all sit down,” said Rose. “There is no need for ceremony.”
Becket helped Daisy into a chair and then sat down himself.
“I was wondering about sexual diseases,” said Rose.
Harry stared at her, wondering whether he had heard her properly. “Did you say sexual diseases?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” asked Harry nervously.
“It is just an idea,” said Rose. “You see, Daisy tells me that gentlemen have been known to have intimate relations with virgins in the hope of being cured of, say, syphilis.”
“Where is this leading?”
“Mary hinted that she had someone interested in her, that she had been spoken for. Now it would never have crossed my mind before that any unmarried young lady would fall from grace. But if a man had one of these terrible diseases, he might be very persuasive, promise her anything. Then, if she found out the truth, she might want to take her own life.”
“I fear your new-found knowledge of the nastier aspects of the world is making you jump to mad conclusions,” said Harry.
“Not quite. Margaret Bryce-Cuddlestone spent a night with Lord Hedley. Today she sent for the doctor. She was most upset.”
“But why sexual disease? She might just be frightened that she is pregnant.”
“Perhaps. But don’t you see? If Lord Hedley slept with Margaret, it follows he may have slept with Mary Gore-Desmond. Perhaps she threatened to tell his wife and his wife has the money.”
Harry sat silently in thought. “You don’t like the idea,” said Daisy pertly, “because you didn’t think of it.”
“Mind your manners,” snapped Harry.
