Bedford Square - Anne Perry [59]
A flash of understanding lit Vespasia’s eyes, and wry sadness.
“Not yet. According to Theloneus these are merely erratic, ill thought out, quite unlike his usual careful consideration and weighing of all factors.” She frowned. “It is as if his mind were only half on what he is doing. I was most concerned about him. I thought perhaps it was illness, which it may be. I saw him two or three days ago, and he looked most unwell, as if he had slept very little. But there was more, a sense of abstraction in him. Only when you told me of Brandon Balantyne did the thought of blackmail occur to me.” She moved her hands fractionally. “There are so many things a man may not be able to disprove once the suggestion is made. One only has to look at this ridiculous Tranby Croft affair to see how easily ruin may come simply by a misplaced word, a charge, whether it can be proved or not.”
“Is Gordon-Cumming going to be ruined?” Charlotte asked. “And is he innocent?” She knew Vespasia would be at least to some degree acquainted with the principal characters concerned, and very probably know a good deal about their private lives.
Vespasia shook her head slightly. “I have no idea whether he is innocent, but it is perfectly possible. The whole matter should never have arisen. It was handled appallingly badly. When they believed he was cheating they should have called an end to the game, without requiring him to sign a piece of paper promising never to play cards again, which was tantamount to an admission of guilt. Condemning who was present, somebody was bound to speak of it, and then scandal was inevitable. With two wits to rub together they could have foreseen that.” She shook her head with impatience.
“But there’s got to be something we can do about this threat of blackmail!” Charlotte protested. “It is monstrously unjust. It could happen to anyone.”
Vespasia was very tense, unaccustomed lines of anxiety in her face.
“What worries me is what this blackmailer may ask for. You say he has made no demand of Balantyne yet?”
“No … except a snuffbox … and that was found on the body of the man who was murdered on his doorstep.” She found her own fingers clenching. “Thomas knows all about the murder, of course, because it is his case. But that is not all ….”
“There is worse,” Vespasia said quietly; it was more of a conclusion than a question.
“Yes. Assistant Commissioner Cornwallis is being blackmailed too. Also for something in the past in which he cannot prove his innocence.”
“What, precisely?”
“Taking the credit for another man’s act of courage.”
“And General Balantyne?”
“That he panicked in the face of the enemy and allowed someone else to conceal it for him.”
“I see.” Vespasia looked deeply troubled. She understood only too bitterly how such rumors, no matter how softly whispered, how passionately denied, would make a man’s life nigh to intolerable. Less vicious charges than either of those had at best driven men to retire from all public life and move to some remote spot in the wilder parts of Scotland, or even to leave Britain altogether and become expatriates without a purpose. At worst, they had caused suicide.
“We must fight,” Charlotte urged, leaning forward a little. “We can’t let it happen.”
“You are right,” Vespasia agreed. “I have no idea whether we can win. Blackmailers have all the advantages.” She rose to her feet, again using the cane. The dog uncurled itself and stood up also. “They use methods we cannot and would not,” she continued. “They fight from the shadows. They are the ultimate cowards. We shall have luncheon, then we shall call upon the Whites.” She reached for the bell rope and pulled it. When it was answered she informed the butler of her plans, for him in turn to tell the cook and the coachman.
Dunraithe and Marguerite White lived in Upper Brook Street, between Park Lane and Grosvenor Street. Charlotte and Vespasia alighted from the carriage in the bright mid-afternoon sun. Vespasia knew all the proper etiquette for calling on “at home” days, once or twice a month. Anyone with a suitable degree of