The Cater Street Hangman - Anne Perry [71]
“I thought he might have killed Chloe, and you might guess it one day, and that then he would have to kill you,” Charlotte said simply. She would have given anything she possessed for Dominic not to have been there, not to have heard this.
“You’re wrong,” Emily said quietly, her eyes still closed. “George has faults, faults you probably wouldn’t put up with, but nothing like that. Do you suppose I should think of marrying anyone who would be capable of murdering like that?”
“No. I think you would find out, and that is why he would kill you, too.”
“Do you hate him so much?”
“I don’t care about him!” Charlotte said in exasperation, almost shouting. “I was thinking about you!”
Emily said nothing.
Dominic was still angry. “So you made up something vicious about Charlotte, and told Sarah to get your revenge?” he accused.
Emily’s face tightened. She looked very young, and now also very ashamed. “I shouldn’t have told her,” she admitted, looking at Dominic.
“Then apologize and withdraw it,” Dominic demanded.
Emily’s face set. “I shouldn’t have said it, but that does not make it untrue. Charlotte is in love with Dominic. She has been ever since he first came. And Dominic is flattered by it. He enjoys it. I don’t know how much?” She left it a question, painful and suggestive.
“Emily!” Charlotte pleaded.
Emily turned to her. “Can you take back what you said to Inspector Pitt? Can you make him forget it? Then why do you expect me to take back? You’ll have to live with it—just as I shall.” And she pushed past them and went out into the hallway.
Charlotte looked at Sarah.
“If you are waiting for me to apologize, you will wait in vain,” Sarah said stiffly. “Now perhaps you would be good enough to go upstairs and unpack. I would prefer to speak to my husband alone. You won’t be surprised that I have questions to ask!”
Charlotte hesitated, but there was nothing else to say, nothing that could do anything but make it worse. She disengaged herself from Dominic and turned to leave. Perhaps tomorrow there would be apologies, and perhaps not. But whatever was said, nothing would wipe out the memory of today; feelings could not be the same again. What she had said to Pitt was true. This was all like ripples on a pool, and perhaps the rings would never stop.
Chapter Nine
THE FOLLOWING DAY Dominic went into the city as usual, and on returning home was due to go out and dine with a retired brigadier and his wife. It was an occasion Sarah had been looking forward to for some time, but when he returned home he found her in a mood that reflected none of the excitement and pleasure he had expected. She seemed remote, not merely preoccupied but positively offended by his presence. He tried all the usual tactics. He complimented her on her gown; he told her all he knew about the brigadier’s wife and her social connections; he assured her she would be more than equal to the occasion. He kissed her without disarranging either her hair or her gown. None of it was to any effect; she withdrew from his touch and avoided his eyes.
There was no opportunity to ask her what was annoying her. On two or three occasions during the evening he tried to speak to her without being overheard, but each time either they were interrupted, or she changed the subject and drew some other person’s attention to them.
In the carriage on the way home they were alone for the first time.
“Sarah?”
“Yes?” She kept her face away.
“What is it, Sarah? You’ve been behaving like—like a stranger all evening. No, that’s not true, a stranger would have shown better manners.”
“I’m sorry you find my manners inadequate.”
“Stop playing, Sarah. If there’s something wrong, tell me.”
“Something wrong!” She turned to face him, her eyes blazing in the flashes of gaslight from the street. “Yes, something is very wrong, and if you are not aware that it is wrong, then you have a sense of morality that