Silence in Hanover Close - Anne Perry [78]
As soon as the footman appeared Pitt ordered him to get the lady’s maid with some smelling salts. His voice sounded rough, even frightened. He must steady himself. There was a violence of emotion inside him; he feared he had been too clumsy and had provoked the very scandal Ballarat would pay any price to avoid, anger at the loss of life, pity for it, a sense of betrayal because he had not wanted it to be Veronica. But surely the gay and daring Cerise would not have crumpled into a faint at the first suspicion of the law.
The door opened and the lady’s maid came in, a pretty, slight creature with fair hair and—
“God Almighty!” The breath hissed out between his teeth and Pitt felt the room lurch a little round him also. “Emily!”
“Oh!” Her hand flew to her mouth and she dropped the bottle of salts. “Thomas.”
“All right!” For a moment there was a silence of utter incredulity. Then his fury broke. “Explain yourself!” he ground out between his teeth.
“Don’t be foolish!” she whispered. “Keep your voice down! What happened to Veronica?” She knelt down, picked up the salts, and unstoppered them, waving them gently under Veronica’s nose.
“She fainted, of course!” Pitt snapped back. “I asked her about Cerise. Emily, you’ve got to get out of here. You must be mad! Dulcie was murdered, and you could be next!”
“I know she was—and I’m not leaving.” Her face was determined as she stared at him defiantly.
“You are!” He grasped her arm.
She snatched it away. “No, I’m not! Veronica isn’t Cerise. I know her far better than you do!”
“Emily—” But it was too late; Veronica was beginning to stir. Her eyes opened, dark with horror. Then, as memory came back and she recognized Pitt and Emily, the mask returned.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Pitt,” she said very slowly. “I’m afraid I am not very well. I—I haven’t seen the person you spoke of. I cannot help.”
“Then I’ll not disturb you any further. I’ll leave you with your—maid.” Pitt forced himself to be civil, even gentle. “I apologize for having disturbed you.”
Emily rang the bell for the footman, and when he came she gave him his instructions. “John, please show Mr. Pitt to the front door, and then ask Mary to bring Mrs. York a tisane.”
Pitt glared at her and she looked back with her chin high.
“Thank you,” he said, and followed the footman out.
He took a hansom home and strode up his own hallway to the kitchen.
“Charlotte! Charlotte!”
She turned round with innocent surprise at the rage in his voice, then saw his face.
“You knew!” he said furiously. “You knew Emily was in that house as a maid! God Almighty, have you no wits at all, woman?”
It was the wrong approach and he knew it even as he shouted at her, but he was too angry to control himself.
For a moment she glared back at him, then she changed her mind and lowered her eyes meekly. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I didn’t know until it was too late, I swear, and then there was no point in telling you. You couldn’t have done anything about it.” She looked up with a very small smile. “And she will learn things there that we can’t.”
He gave up, swearing long and savagely under his breath before he ran out of vocabulary he could use in front of Charlotte and accepted the cup of tea she was pouring.
“I don’t give a damn what she learns!” he said fiercely. “Have you thought for one moment in all your idiotic plans about the danger she’s in? For God’s sake, Charlotte, two people have been murdered in that house already! If she were found out, what could you do to help her? Nothing! Nothing at all!” He flung his arm out. “She’s there completely on her own; I can’t get in there. How could you be so bloody stupid?”
“I am not stupid!” she said hotly, indignation bright in her cheeks and eyes. “I didn’t know anything about it—I told you