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He was walking the last mile in the crisp late-autumn afternoon, trying to formulate in his mind what he would say, when he passed a funeral going very slowly north up Tottenham Court Road towards the Euston Road. The hearse was drawn by four black horses with black plumes, and through the glass he could see the coffin was covered with flowers. There must have been pounds and pounds worth. He could imagine the perfume of them, and the care that had gone into raising them in a hothouse at this time of the year.
Behind the hearse were three other carriages packed full with mourners, all in black, and again there was a sudden stab of familiarity. He knew why they were crammed elbow to elbow, and the harnesses so shiny, no crests on the carriage doors. It was a poor man’s funeral; the carriages were hired, but no expense had been spared. There would be black horses, no browns or bays would do. There would be flowers from everyone, even if there was nothing to eat for the rest of the week and they sat by cold hearths in the evening. Death must have its due, and the neighborhood must not be let down by a poor show, a hint of meanness. Poverty must be concealed at all costs. They would mourn properly as a last tribute.
He stood on the pavement with his hat off and watched them go past with a feeling close to tears, not for the unknown corpse, or even for those who were bereaved, but for everyone who cared so desperately what others thought of them, and for the shadows and flickers of his own past that he saw in it. Whatever his dreams, he was part of these people, not of those in Queen Anne Street or their like. He had fine clothes now, ate well enough and owned no house and had no family, but his roots were in close streets where everyone knew each other, weddings and funerals involved them all, they knew every birth or sickness, the hopes and the losses, there was no privacy and no loneliness.
Who was it whose face had come so clearly for an instant as he waited outside the club Piccadilly, and why had he wanted so intensely to emulate him, not only his intellect, but even his accent of speech and his manner of dress and gait in walking?
He looked again at the mourners, seeking some sense of identity with them, and as the last carriage passed slowly by he caught a glimpse of a woman’s face, very plain, nose too broad, mouth wide and eyebrows low and level, and it struck a familiarity in him so sharp it left him gasping, and another homely face came back to his mind and then was gone again, an ugly woman with tears on her cheeks and hands so lovely he never tired of looking at them, or lost his intense pleasure in their delicacy and grace. And he was wounded with an old guilt, and he had no idea why, or how long ago it had been.
7
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ARAMINTA WAS very composed as she stood in front of Monk in the boudoir, that room of ease and comfort especially for the women of the house. It was ornately decorated with lush French Louis XVI furniture, all scrolls and curlicues, gilt and velvet. The curtains were brocade and the wallpaper pink embossed in gold. It was an almost oppressively feminine room, and Araminta looked out of place in it, not for her appearance, which was slender and delicately boned with a flame of hair, but for her stance. It was almost aggressive. There was nothing yielding in her, nothing soft to compliment all the sweetness of the pink room.
“I regret having to tell you this, Mr. Monk.” She looked at him unflinchingly. “My sister’s reputation is naturally dear to me, but in our present stress and tragedy I believe only the truth will serve. Those of us who are hurt by it will have to endure the best we may.”
He opened his mouth to try to say something at once soothing and encouraging, but apparently she did not need any word from him. She continued, her face so controlled there was no apparent tension, no quiver to the lips or voice.
“My sister, Octavia, was a very charming person, and very affectionate.” She was choosing her words with great care; this was a speech which had been rehearsed before he came. “Like most people who are pleasing to others, she enjoyed admiration, indeed she had a hunger for it. When her husband, Captain Haslett, was killed in the Crimea she was, of course, deeply grieved. But that was nearly two years ago, and that is a long time for a young woman of Octavia’s nature to be alone.”
This time he did not interrupt, but waited for her to continue, only showing his total attention by his unwavering gaze.
The only way her inner feelings showed was a curious stillness, as if something inside her dared not move.
“What I am endeavoring to say, Mr. Monk, much as it pains me, and all my family, is that Octavia from time to time would encourage from the footman an admiration that was personal, and of a more familiar nature than it should have been.”
“Which footman, ma’am?” He would not put Percival’s name in her mouth.
A flash of irritation tweaked her mouth. “Percival of course. Do not affect to be a fool with me, Mr. Monk. Does Harold look like a man to have airs above his station? Besides which, you have been in this house quite long enough to have observed that Harold is taken with the parlormaid and not likely to see anyone else in that light—for all the good it will do him.” She jerked her shoulders sharply, as if to shrug off the distasteful idea. “Still, she is very likely not the charming creature he imagines, and he may well be better served by dreams than he would be by the disillusion of reality.” For the first time she looked away from him. “I daresay she is very bland and tedious once you are tired of looking at her pretty face.”
Had Araminta been a plain woman Monk might have suspected her of envy, but since she was in her own way quite remarkably fine it could not be so.
“Impossible dreams always end in awakening,” he agreed. “But he may grow out of his obsession before he meets with any reality. Let us hope so.”
“It is hardly important,” she said, swinging back to face him and recall him to the subject that mattered. “I have come to inform you of my sister’s relationship with Percival, not Harold’s moonings after the parlormaid. Since it seems inescapable that someone in this house murdered Octavia, it is relevant that you should know she was overfamiliar with the footman.”
“Very relevant,” he agreed quietly. “Why did you not mention it before, Mrs. Kellard?”
“Because I hoped it would not be necessary, of course,” she replied immediately. “It is hardly a pleasant thing to have to admit—least of all to the police.”
Whether that was because of the implication for crime, or the indignity of discussing it with someone of the social standing of the police, she did not say, but Monk thought from the lopsided suggestion of a sneer on her mouth that it was the latter.
“Thank you for mentioning it now.” He ironed out the anger from his expression as well as he could, and was rewarded, and insulted, that she seemed to notice nothing at all. “I shall investigate the possibility,” he concluded.
“Naturally.” Her fine golden eyebrows rose. “I did not put myself to the discomfort of telling you for you merely to acknowledge it and do nothing.”
He bit back any further comment and contented himself with opening the door for her and bidding her good-day.
He had no alternative but to face Percival, because he had already drawn from everyone else the fragments of knowledge, speculation and judgment of character on the subject. Nothing added now would be proof of anything, only the words of fear, opportunism or malice. And undoubtedly Percival was disliked by some of his fellow servants, for greater or lesser reason. He was arrogant and abrasive and he had played with at least one woman’s affections, which produced volatile and unreliable testimony, at best.
When Percival appeared this time his attitude was different; the all-permeating fear was there, but far less powerfully. There was a return of the old confidence in the tilt of his head and the brash directness of his stare. Monk knew immediately there would be no point in even hoping to panic him into confession of anything.
“Sir?” Percival waited expectantly, bristlingly aware of tricks and verbal traps.
“Perhaps discretion kept you from saying so before.” Monk did not bother to prevaricate. “But Mrs. Haslett was one of the ladies who had more than an employer’s regard for you, was she not?” He smiled with bared teeth. “You need not permit modesty to direct your answer. It has come to me from another source.”
Percival’s mouth relaxed in something of a smirk, but he did not forget himself.
