Traitors Gate - Anne Perry [173]
“Thank you, you are most understanding. It will take a love of justice and a courage which puts that love before comfort and convenience. Such people are not as common as one would wish.”
“Just so,” he said sadly. “It is a grim reflection of our times. What, precisely, is it you wish me to do?”
“To find out what happened to Sir Arthur Desmond the afternoon he died …”
“But surely that was either an accident, or a suicide.” He pulled a very slight face. “To take one’s own life was not the act of a Christian, or of a gentleman, unless he had debts he could not pay or had committed a grave dishonor. Or suicide,” he finished.
“No, no, Mr. March! That is exactly the point, it was most certainly murder … for reasons I shall not go into now.” She leaned forward, facing him with an intense look. “It is not unconnected with the death of Mrs. Chancellor.” She ignored his look of amazement.
“And with members of the Colonial Office I am not free to name. Indeed, I only know the veriest fraction which I have overheard, but matters where England’s interest, and those of the Empire, may have been jeopardized.” Now his face was agog and his round eyes wide.
“Sir Arthur was murdered because he drew attention to matters which exposed certain people to suspicion and eventually ignominy,” she finished.
“Good gracious! You don’t say so!” He drew a deep breath. “Dear lady, are you perfectly sure you have this quite right? It seems …”
“Mrs. Chancellor is dead,” she pointed out. “And now Mr. Chancellor also. Can you doubt the matter is profoundly serious?”
“No. No, of course not. But the connection …?”
“Is to do with Africa. Will you help me?”
He hesitated only a moment. How could he refuse, and deny himself the opportunity for such gallantry, a noble part in such a matter, perhaps a small place in history?
“Of course,” he said enthusiastically. “When shall we begin?”
“Tomorrow, about lunchtime?” she suggested. “Of course, I cannot come into the club….”
“Good gracious no!” he agreed with a look of alarm. Such a thing would be tantamount to sacrilege.
“So I shall be obliged to wait outside in the street,” she said with as little irritation as she could manage, although it called for more self-control than she thought she possessed. It was absurd. Why on earth should they all be so appalled at the idea of a woman coming into the club? Anyone would think that they were all sitting around naked! That idea was so amusing she contained her laughter only with difficulty.
He noticed her expression, and his face filled with alarm.
“I hope you are not considering …”
“No!” she said sharply. “No, of course not. I shall wait in the street, I assure you. If nothing else will convince you, remember that Thomas has been promoted. I have every interest in behaving with the most perfect decorum to see that I do not in any way embarrass him.” That was a major stretching of the truth, but she felt Eustace would believe it.
“Of course, of course.” He nodded sagely. “I apologize for having doubted you. Now tell me what information it is you wish?”
“To begin with, to know precisely who was there that afternoon, and where they were sitting, or standing, or whatever it is gentlemen do in their clubs.”
“That sounds very simple. Surely Thomas would have learned that from the stewards,” he said with satisfaction.
“No, apparently they are so terribly busy waiting on people they don’t notice,” she responded. “Anyway, people tend to avoid speaking to the police if they can, especially if they fear it might compromise their friends unjustly.”
“I quite see the point….” He was dubious.
“But you will not be talking to the police, you will simply be telling me,” she pointed out.
She wondered whether she ought to mention Farnsworth’s opposition to Thomas’s working on the case at all, and decided it was too big a risk to take. Eustace was very impressed by authority. Apart from that, he might conceivably be in the same ring of the Inner Circle, and that would never do.
“Yes, that is certainly true,” he agreed, apparently calmed by the