beginning, the little whispered suggestions. It isn’t only the dead who are going to suffer, or even only those who loved them.”
“Then help me, Charlotte. What is it you know, or think you know?”
“George Ashworth. Lord George Ashworth; he knew Chloe Abernathy quite well just before she died. He took her to some-some very unpleasant places, or so Mrs. Abernathy said. And in spite of what Papa says, Chloe was not immoral, not in the least, just silly!”
“I know.”
She opened her eyes. “Ashworth is escorting Emily a lot. Please see he isn’t-that he doesn’t-”
He gave a bitter little grimace. “I shall look discreetly into the late actions of Lord George Ashworth, I promise you. He is not unknown to us, at least by repute.”
“You mean-”
“I mean he is a gentleman whose taste is a little-raucous, and whose pocket and family title allow him to do things that in others would be punished. I suppose speaking to Emily would have no effect?”
“None at all. I have done so, and if it had been received differently, I would not have troubled you.”
He smiled. “Of course. Don’t worry.” He put out his hand, as if to touch her arm, and then withdrew it self- consciously. “I shall have Lord Ashworth observed, discreetly. I shall do all I can to see Emily comes to no harm, although I cannot protect her from a possible serious fright.”
“That will do her no harm at all,” Charlotte said tersely. She was overwhelmingly relieved. “Thank you, Inspector. I–I am glad-of your help.”
He coloured faintly, and turned to leave. “Are you going to remain with Mrs. Lessing until after the funeral?”
“Yes. Why?”
“No reason. Good night. . Miss Ellison. Thank you for your assistance.”
“Good night, Inspector Pitt.”
It was over a week later, after the funeral, when Charlotte returned from the Lessings’. She had been forbidden to travel alone, not only by Pitt, but by Papa. She was more than pleased that it was Dominic who came in the cab to collect her.
Even the memory of the funeral, the finality of it, the pathetic black, Mrs. Lessing’s grief, could not drive away the pleasure of seeing Dominic, being alone with him. When he met her eyes it was as if he had touched her. His smile warmed her through, melting the chill of fear and helplessness. She sat in the cab beside him, and for a moment everything else was shut out, no past and no future.
They talked of trivialities, but she did not care. It was being with him that mattered, knowing that all his attention was turned towards her.
The cabdriver unloaded her box and Maddock carried it in. She followed behind on Dominic’s arm. It was a marvellous feeling.
It collapsed as soon as she entered the withdrawing room. Sarah looked up from the sofa where she was sitting sewing. Her face darkened as soon as she saw them.
“You are not entering a ballroom, Charlotte,” she said tartly. “Nor, unless you are feeling faint, do you need someone to hang on to like that!”
Emily was at the piano and looked downward at her hands with an uncomfortable colour creeping up her face.
Charlotte stopped still, her arm, in spite of the warmth and closeness of Dominic, suddenly feeling dead.
Perhaps she was holding him too closely; she could not deny she had done it consciously. Now she was self- conscious, and guilty. She sought to free her arm, but Dominic was still gripping her, and his grip tightened.
“Sarah?” he said with a frown. “Charlotte has just returned home from a visit of charity. Would you have me allow her to come in alone?”
“I would have you welcome her, naturally,” Sarah was annoyed, and her voice was tight and hard. “But not to make an entrance, clinging to each other like that!”
Charlotte deliberately freed herself, her face flaming.
“I’m sorry if you were offended, Sarah, but until you spoke, it was no more than excitement at being home again.”
“And now that I have spoken, what is it?” Sarah demanded.
“Well, you have certainly taken much of the pleasure from coming home.” Charlotte was beginning to become angry herself. This was unjust. Her foolishness did not warrant this degree of criticism, and not publicly.
“You have only been round the corner!” Sarah snapped. “Not to Australia!”
“She has been staying with Mrs. Lessing to help her through her worst time, which was an act of particular generosity.” Dominic was growing sharper himself. “It cannot have been easy or very pleasant, under the circumstances.”
Sarah glared at him.
“I know perfectly well where she’s been. You don’t need to be so sanctimonious about it. It was charitable, certainly, but hardly as saintly as you make it seem.”
Charlotte could not understand it. She looked at Sarah’s face: there was something almost like hatred in it. She turned from it, feeling sick and shaken. Emily would not meet her eyes. She swivelled back to Dominic.
“That’s right!” Sarah stood up. “Look to Dominic! That’s just what I would expect, except that you should do it behind my back!”
Charlotte could feel the blood flaming in her cheeks, even her brow, because she loved Dominic, had always loved him-but she was blushing for her thoughts, not her deeds. For her deeds, the accusation was unjust.
She drew her breath in deeply and let it out.
“Sarah, I don’t know what it is you think, but if it is anything improper, or in any way unfair or unjust to you, then you are wrong, and your charge does you no credit. It is not true, and I believe you know me well enough to have known that before you spoke.”
“I thought I did! I only discovered how blind I had been while you were away doing your charity turn at Mrs. Lessing’s! You are the perfect hypocrite, Charlotte. I never even suspected you.”
“And you were right,” Charlotte heard her own voice coming from a long way away. “There was nothing to suspect. It is now that you are wrong, not before.”
She felt Dominic take her arm again, and moved to loose herself, but he was holding her tightly.
“Sarah,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what you imagine, and I don’t wish to know. But you owe Charlotte an apology for whatever your thoughts are, and for having voiced them.”
She looked at him squarely, her lip curled with disgust. “Don’t lie to me, Dominic. I know, I am not guessing.”
His face went blank with complete surprise. “Know what? There isn’t anything to know!”
“I know, Dominic. Emily told me.”
It was the first time Charlotte had seen Dominic really angry. Suddenly Emily looked frightened, too frightened to move.
“Emily?”
“There’s no point in appealing to Emily, or trying to bully her.” Sarah stepped forward.
“Bully Emily?” Dominic raised his eyebrows in harsh amusement. “Nobody ever bullied Emily in her life! It would be an impossibility.”
“Don’t try to be amusing!” Sarah snapped.
Charlotte disregarded them. She was staring at Emily.
Emily lifted her chin a little. “You told Inspector Pitt about George and Chloe Abernathy,” she said with only a slight tremor in her voice.
“Because I was afraid for you!” Charlotte defended herself, and yet felt guilty also. She knew Emily saw it as a betrayal, and however little Charlotte had meant it as such, the guilt remained.
“Afraid of what? That I might marry George, leaving you here alone, the only one of us not married?” She shut her eyes, her face white. “I’m sorry. That was a dreadful thing to say.”
“I thought he might have killed Chloe, and you might guess it one day, and that then he would have to kill you,” Charlotte said simply. She would have given anything she possessed for Dominic not to have been there, not to have heard this.
