'Had he ever considered marrying again?' It was a reasonably tactful way of inquiring whether Etheridge had any romantic alliances. He hoped she understood what he meant.
A wan smile lit her face for an instant, and vanished.' 'Not so far as I know. That is not to say there were not several ladies who considered it.'
'I imagine so,' Pitt agreed. 'He was of fine family, had a successful career, an impeccable reputation, was charming and personable, and was of very substantial means, and still young enough to have another family.'
James's head came up sharply and his mouth fell slack with some emotion of alarm or loss that Pitt could see for an instant, before it was masked, but he could not be sure of its nature.
Helen's eyes flashed upward to her husband's face; she grew even more pale, then the color rushed up in her cheeks. She turned to Pitt and spoke so quietly he had to lean forward to catch her words.
' 'I don't think he ... ever had any desire to marry again. I'm sure I should have known of it.''
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'Would any of these ladies have had reason for entertaining hopes?'
'No.'
Pitt looked at James, but James avoided his eyes.
'Perhaps you would give me the name of his solicitors in the morning?' Pitt asked. 'And any business partners or associates he may have had?'
'Yes, if you think it necessary.' She was very pale. Her hands were clenched and her body still hunched forward on the edge of the seat.
'His affairs were in excellent order,' James put in, suddenly looking at Pitt and frowning. 'Surely they have no bearing on this? I think you intrude on our privacy without justification. Mr. Etheridge's wealth was inherited through lands in Lincolnshire and the West Riding, and shares in several companies in the City. I suppose there may be some malcontents or would-be revolutionaries who resent that, but only the same ones who would resent anyone with property.' His eyes were bright, his jaw a little forward. He was half challenging Pitt, as if he suspected Pitt might have some secret sympathy with those James considered to be his own class.
'We are looking into that, of course.' Pitt smiled briefly back at him and held his gaze. It was James who looked away. 'I will also inquire into his political career as well,' he continued. 'Perhaps you can give me an outline from which to begin?'
Helen cleared her throat. ' 'He has been a Liberal Member of Parliament for twenty-one years, from the general election in December 1868. His constituency is in Lincolnshire. He served as a junior minister in the Treasury in 1880 when Mr. Gladstone was Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in the India Office when Lord Randolph Churchill was Secretary for India, I think that was 1885. And he was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir William Harcourt when he was Home Secretary, but only for about a year-I
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think it was 1883. At present he has-he had,' she said, hesitating for only a moment, 'no particular office, so far as I know, but a great deal of influence.'
'Thank you. Do you happen to know if he held strong views on the Irish question? Home Rule, for example.'
She shivered and glanced again at James, but he was apparently unaware of it, his mind absorbed with something else.
' 'He was against Home Rule,'' she answered very quietly. Then her eyes widened and there was a flash, a quickening of something within. Anger and hope? Or merely intelligence? 'Do you think it could have been Fenians? An Irish conspiracy?'
' 'Possibly.'' Pitt doubted it; he remembered Hamilton had been strongly in favor of Home Rule. But then perhaps Hamilton had been killed by mistake. At night with the distortion of the lamplight . . . the two^men were of a height, roughly of an age, and not dissimilar in coloring and features. ' 'Yes-possibly.''
'Then you had better begin inquiring,' James said. He seemed a little more relaxed. 'We will retire. My wife has had a profound shock. I am sure you can learn anything else you need from my father-in-law's political colleagues.' He turned to leave. His concern for Helen did not extend to offering her his arm.
