Highgate Rise - Anne Perry [89]
“Emily and I already have plans,” she said, setting the cup down in its saucer and looking over Charlotte’s shoulder at Gracie, who was self-consciously scrubbing at the washboard, her shoulders hunched. “If you think it advisable not to go alone, leave the children with your mother for a few days and take your maid with you.”
Grade stopped in mid-motion, laundry dripping in the sink, her back bent, her hands in the air. She let out a long sigh of exquisite anticipation. She was going to detect—with the mistress! It would be the biggest adventure of her entire life!
Charlotte was incredulous. “Gracie!”
“And why not?” Vespasia inquired. “It would appear quite natural. I shall lend you my second carriage and Percival to drive it for you. There is no point in doing it if you do not do it as well as possible. I am concerned in the matter. My admiration for Clemency Shaw is considerable. I shall require you to inform me of your findings, if any. Naturally you will also tell Thomas. I have no intention of allowing the whole thing to be swallowed up in public assumption that the intended victim was Stephen Shaw, and Clemency’s death can be dismissed as an error, however tragic. Oh!” Her face fell with sudden awful comprehension. “Do you think it is conceivable that that is why poor Lindsay was murdered? So we might well assume Clemency’s death was unintended? How cold-bloodedly deliberate.”
“I am going to find out,” Charlotte said quietly with a little shiver. “As soon as Percival arrives with the carriage, I shall take the children to Mama’s, and we shall begin.”
“Fetch what they require,” Vespasia commanded. “And I shall take them with me on my return. I have no errands until this evening when the House rises.”
Charlotte got to her feet. “Somerset Carlisle?”
“Just so. If we are to fight against the slum profiteers, we require to know the exact state of the law, and what it is most reasonable to expect we may achieve. One may assume that Clemency did much the same, and discovered some weakness in their position. We need to know what it was.”
Gracie was scrubbing so hard the board was rattling in the tub.
“Stop that now, child!” Vespasia ordered. “I can hardly hear myself think! Put it through that contraption and hang it up. I am sure it is clean enough. For goodness sake, they are only bed sheets! Then when you have done that, go and tidy yourself up and put on a coat, and a hat if you have one. Your mistress will require you to accompany her to Highgate.”
“Yes ma’am!” Gracie heaved the entire lot of linen up, standing on tiptoe to get it clear of the water, dropped it in the clean water in the opposite tub, pulled the plug, then began to pay it through the mangle, winding like fury in her excitement.
Vespasia seemed completely unaware that she had just given a complete hour’s instructions to someone else’s servant. It seemed common sense, and that was sufficient to justify it.
“Go upstairs to the nursery and pack whatever is necessary,” she continued, speaking to Charlotte in almost the same tone of voice. “For several days. You do not want to be anxious for them while you are endeavoring to unravel this matter.”
Charlotte obeyed with a very slight smile. She did not resent being ordered around; it was what she would have done anyway, and the familiarity with which Vespasia did it was a kind of affection, also an unspoken trust that they were involved in the affair together and desired the same end.
Upstairs she found Jemima solemnly practicing her writing. She had progressed from the stage of rather carefully drawing letters and now she did them with some abandon, confident she was making words, and of their meaning. Sums she was considerably less fond of.
Daniel was still struggling, and with immeasurable superiority now and again Jemima gave him assistance, explaining carefully precisely what he must do, and why. He bore it with placid good nature, imitating her round script and concealing both his ignorance and his admiration behind a frown of attention. It can be