Silence in Hanover Close - Anne Perry [34]
“You look as bored as I am, Emily. I hate January, and it’s almost here. We must do something terribly interesting, to make it pass quickly, while we are too occupied to notice.
In spite of herself she was moved to smile. “Indeed? And what do you suggest? Pray do sit down.”
He obeyed with elegance and looked at her candidly. “We must pursue our detecting,” he replied. “Surely Charlotte will go back to the Yorks, won’t she? I got the distinct impression she was as keen as we were. In fact, was it not her idea?”
It was the ideal excuse, and Emily seized it without thinking.
“Yes it was! I’m sure she would welcome a chance to call again.” She did not need to add that it would require Jack’s assistance; they both knew that. No single woman in the position Charlotte had pretended to would press such an acquaintance herself. And anyway, Charlotte had not the financial means even to come in a carriage, let alone suitably dressed. Emily could provide those things, but not an escort. Charlotte must be prompted, in case she had forgotten about the Yorks in the excitement of Christmas.
“I will send her a note,” she added aloud. “And it is always possible Pitt will learn something further, so we should keep abreast of that too.”
Jack looked thoughtful, gazing at the floor. “I have tried, extremely discreetly, to sound out one or two acquaintances about the Danvers, but I discovered very little. The father, Garrard Danver, is fairly senior in the Foreign Office, which may be how they came to know the Yorks so closely. Although Society is surprisingly small. Everyone knows everyone else, at least by sight or repute, if not to speak to—but of course that is a different thing from calling upon them. There were two sons: one was killed in the Indian Army some time ago, the other is Julian Danver, who may or may not marry Veronica York, depending upon Pitt’s inquiries.”
Emily gave a little snort of irritation. She was developing an empathy with Veronica York which made the concern about her reputation all the more infuriating.
“I wonder if anyone has bothered to consider whether he is good enough for her!” she said tartly. Instantly Emily regretted the words; she would have bitten her tongue rather than say something so betraying of her own loathsome suspicions. Please God he would not make the connection! She opened her mouth to rush into speech and smother it, then was afraid he would realize that was what she was doing. Instead she brazened it out.
Jack looked a little startled. “You mean his reputation?”
Now she had no answer. To expect a man’s reputation to have the same purity as a woman’s was absurd; she would mark herself as eccentric to the point of idiocy if she suggested such a thing.
But the alternative was the truth, and that was worse. But how could she back out of this discussion without being caught in a lie? She could feel the hot blood in her cheeks. She must say something! The silence positively prickled.
“Well, they might be concerned that he was a man of honor as much as he seems,” she said, scrambling for something that sounded better, more specific. “Some men have most disreputable habits. Perhaps you don’t know, but having assisted in the investigation of one or two crimes, I have learned of some terrible things, which were quite unknown to their families.” She forced herself to look at Jack. She was talking too much.
“Would it have anything to do with Robert York’s murder?” he asked. His eyes revealed nothing.
“No,” she said slowly. “Unless, of course, he killed him.”
“Julian Danver?”
“Why not?”
“Because he was already Veronica’s lover?” He took her point. “Yes, that’s possible.” He said it with assurance. Apparently the idea did not seem farfetched to him. Divorce would not have been open to Veronica, even with grounds such as proven adultery, let alone with no grounds at all! Emily knew that. Only men could divorce for unfaithfulness, and even then the woman was ruined. Women were expected