Resurrection Row - Anne Perry [31]
“Charlotte! How delightful to see you. For goodness’ sake, girl, take off your hat and cloak! My house cannot possibly be as cold as that. Here. Eliza!” Her voice rang out in imperious disgust, and the maid appeared instantly. “Take Mrs. Pitt’s cloak, and bring us something hot to drink.”
“What would you like, m’lady?” The girl took the things obediently.
“I don’t know,” Vespasia snapped. “Use your imagination!” She sat down the moment the door was closed behind the maid and treated Charlotte to a detailed inspection. Finally she snorted and leaned back. “You look in excellent health. Time you had another child.” She disregarded Charlotte’s blush. “I suppose you’ve come about this disgusting business of the corpse? Old Augustus Fitzroy-Hammond. He was always a nuisance; never knew when it was time to go, even when he was alive.”
Charlotte wanted to laugh; perhaps it was a relief from nervousness, especially after last evening’s wretched, silly conversation with Pitt.
“Yes,” she agreed warmly. “Dominic came to see me yesterday, you know. He is very afraid the continued investigation may cause a lot of unkind speculation.”
“No doubt,” Vespasia said drily. “And most of it to the effect that either he or Alicia killed him—or both together.”
She had said it so immediately Charlotte’s mind flew to the obvious. “Does that mean they have started already?”
“They are bound to have,” Vespasia replied. “There is little enough else to talk about at this time of the year. At least half of Society is in the country, and those of us who are left are bored to stupidity. What more exciting than the rumor of a love affaire or a murder?”
“That’s vicious!” Charlotte was angry at the callousness of it, the enjoyment of other people’s tragedies, almost as if the gossipers were willing it to be true.
“Of course.” Vespasia looked at her with amusement and regret under her hooded eyelids. “Nothing much changes; it is still bread and circuses. Why do you think they baited bears or bulls?”
“I’d hoped we had learned better,” Charlotte replied. “We are civilized now. We don’t throw Christians to the lions anymore.”
Vespasia raised her eyebrows, and her face was perfectly straight. “You are out of date, my dear, far out: Christians are passé now; it is Jews who are the fashion. They are the stuff for the circuses.”
Memories of delicate social cruelty came back to Charlotte. “Yes, I know. And I suppose if there isn’t a Jew or a social climber to hand, then Dominic will do as well.”
The maid came in with a tray with hot chocolate in a silver pot and very small cakes. She set it in front of Vespasia and waited for acceptance.
“Thank you.” Vespasia regarded it down her nose. “Very good. I’ll call if I wish for you again. For the time being, I am not at home.”
“Yes, m’lady,” and the girl departed, her face still wide open with surprise. Why in goodness’ name should her ladyship treat this Mrs. Pitt, whom no one had ever heard of, with such extra-ordinary regard? She could hardly wait to regale the other servants with the news and discover if anyone knew the answer.
Charlotte sipped the chocolate; she had a weakness for it, but it was something she could not often afford.
“I suppose someone must think he was murdered,” she said presently. “Or they would not keeping digging him up!”
“It seems the most likely explanation,” Vespasia agreed with a frown. “Although I cannot for the life of me imagine who would do such a thing. Unless, of course, it is the old woman.”
“What old woman?” For the moment Charlotte could not think whom she meant.
“His mother, the old dowager Lady Fitzroy-Hammond. Fearful old creature, lives in her bedroom most of the time, except Sundays, when she goes to church and watches everyone. She has ears like a ferret, although she affects to be deaf so people will not be discreet in front of her. She never comes anywhere near me; in fact, she took to her bed for a week when she heard I had come to live in the Park, because I am nearly as old as she is, and I can remember her perfectly