Mercifully she realized her omission before he was obliged to tell her.
'I mean Mama and Emily,' she corrected. It occurred to her to say she had sent the footman with a message for him, but she had never been able to lie to him successfully, and her head was too thick to be able to sort out enough wit to be consistent now. And consistency was vital to a good lie. 'I didn't tell you because I thought I should be home before you were.' She began to sound indignant. 'I didn't know it was going to be a music hall! He simply said he would show me what had hap shy;pened to Ottilie and prove they had not harmed her!'
'A music hall?' For a moment he forgot to be angry.
She sat upright on the edge of the bed. At least the nausea had gone, and it was easier to achieve a little dignity.
'Well, where did you imagine I had been? I was not in a public house, if that's what you think!'
'And why was it necessary to look for Ottilie Charrington in a music hall?' he said skeptically.
'Because that's where she was,' she answered with some satisfaction. 'She ran away to go on the halls! She's Ada Church.' A sudden memory came back to her. 'You know, the one with the nice legs!' she added spitefully.
Pitt had the grace to color. 'I saw her professionally,' he said tartly.
'Your profession or hers?' Charlotte inquired.
'At least I came home sober!' His voice rose with offended justice.
Her head was splitting, like a boiled egg being sliced off at the top, and she did not in the least wish to quarrel with him any further.
'Thomas, I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't realize it would affect me like this. It was just fizzy and nice. And I went there to find Ottilie Charrington.' She pushed her hair back and began to take out the most painful of the pins. 'After all, someone killed Mina! If it wasn't the Charringtons, then maybe it was Theodora von Schenck.'
He sat down on the end of the bed, his shirttails hanging out, his tie undone.
'Is Ada Church really Ottilie Charrington?' he asked seriously. 'Charlotte, are you absolutely sure? It wasn't some obscure joke?'
'No, I'm sure. For one thing, she looked a lot like Inigo. You could see they were related. And something else I forgot! Ambrosine is the thief! Apparently she's been doing it for some time. Inigo always puts everything back as soon as he can, when he knows who they belong to. I suppose nobody admitted to finding them this time in case you suspected them of having murdered Mina for the things.'
'Ambrosine Charrington?' He stared at her, confused 'and disbelieving. 'But why? Why ever should she steal things?'
Charlotte took a deep breath. 'Do you mind if I lie down again? Grace will look after Jemima. I don't think I can. If I stand up, my head will fall off.'
'Why should Ambrosine Charrington steal things?' he repeated.
She tried to remember what Ottilie had said. As far as she could recall, she had understood it very well at the time.
'Because of Lovell.' She struggled for a way of explaining it. 'He's ossified!' She lay down very carefully, and a little of the pain subsided.
'He's what?'
'Ossified,' she said again; the word pleased her. 'Gone to bone. He doesn't listen and he doesn't look. I think part of her hates him. After all, her daughter's gone away and they have to pretend she's dead-'
'For heaven's sake, Charlotte, people of that class don't have daughters on the halls! It would be unthinkable to him!'
'I know that!' She pulled the covers closer around her chin. Quite suddenly she was cold. 'But that wouldn't stop Ambrosine from loving Ottilie. I've met her. She's really very nice-the sort of person you want to smile at. She makes everything seem a little better. Maybe if Lovell wasn't such a prune she wouldn't have gone on the halls. She might have found it all right just to kick over the traces at home every now and again.'
Pitt sat still for a few moments. 'Poor Ambrosine,' he said presently.
A dreadful thought occurred to Charlotte. She sat bolt upright, dragging all the clothes with her.
'You aren't going to arrest her?' she demanded.
He looked appalled. 'No, of course not! I couldn't, even if I wanted to. There's no proof. And Inigo would certainly deny it. Not that I shall ask him.' He pulled a face. 'Still, it removes the thefts as a motive for Mina's death-although the Charringtons could still have killed her, I suppose.'
'Why? Ottilie isn't dead!'
His face took on a look of infinite scorn. 'And how do you imagine Lovell would care for it to be known in Society that Ada Church, the toast of the halls, is his daughter? He'd probably sooner be charged with her murder! At least it wouldn't be so damned funny!'
She twisted up her face painfully, torn between irony and frustration. She wanted to laugh, but the very idea hurt.
'What are you going to do?' she asked.
'Write a letter to Dr. Mulgrew.'
She did not understand; the answer seemed ridiculous.
'Dr. Mulgrew? Why?'
He smiled at last. 'Because he is in love with Ottilie. He might like to know she's alive after all. I don't imagine he'll care very much about her being on the halls. Anyway, he should have the right to find out.'
Charlotte leaned back on the pillow with a deep sigh of satisfaction.
'You are interfering,' she said pleasantly. She liked to think of Ottilie finding someone who would love her.
He grunted and tucked in his shirttails rather untidily,
'I know that.'
Just before eleven o'clock, when Charlotte was still asleep, she dimly heard a knock on the door, and the next moment Emily was beside her.
'What's the matter with, you?' Emily demanded. 'Grade wouldn't let me in! Are you ill?'
Charlotte opened her eyes. 'She didn't make a very good job of it!' She squinted up at Emily sideways without moving. 'I've got a terrible headache.'
'Is that all? Never mind that.' Emily dismissed it and sat down on the bed. 'What happened? What about Ottilie Char-rington? How did she die, and did her family do it? If you don't tell me, I shall shake you till you are really sick!'
'Don't touch me! I'm sick now! She isn't dead. She's excel shy;lently alive, and singing in the music halls.'
'Don't be ridiculous.' Emily's face creased with disbelief. 'Who told you that?'
'Nobody told me. I went to the music hall and saw her myself. That's why I feel so awful now.'
'You what?' Emily was incredulous. 'You went to a music hall? What on earth did Thomas say? Honestly!'
'Yes, I did. And Thomas wasn't very pleased.' Then memo shy;ries came back, and Charlotte began to smile. 'Yes, I did. With Inigo Charrington, and I drank champagne. Actually it was rather fun, once I got started.'
A comical mixture of expressions chased across Emily's face: shock, laughter, and even envy.
'Serves you right you're sick,' she said with some satisfaction. 'I wish I'd been there! What was she like?'
'Marvelous. She really can sing, and in a way that makes you want to sing with her. She's-so very alive!'
Emily tucked up her legs more comfortably.
'So no one murdered her. Then that can't be why Mina was killed.'
'Yes, it could.' Charlotte recalled Pitt's argument. 'They might have wanted to keep that hidden. After all, she's Ada Church!'
'Well, who is Ada Church?' Emily was puzzled.
'Ottilie is! Don't be stupid!'
'What's that supposed to mean?' Emily was too curious to be offended.
'Ada Church is one of the most famous singers on the halls.'
'Is she? I don't know the music halls as well as you do!' There was distinct acid in her tone. 'But that would
