Bedford Square by Anne Perry Page B

hesitated. What was Balantyne afraid of? He was certainly afraid of something. Was it simply more pain, more public exposure of his personal and family affairs? Every family has grief, embarrassments, quarrels or mistakes they prefer to keep unknown from the public in general and from their own circle of acquaintances in particular … just as one does not undress in the street.
    “I’m not really sure,” she said aloud, setting the hat on the table. “I believe he is a totally honorable man, but all of us can make errors of judgment, and many of us do foolish or rash things to protect those we love or feel responsible for.”
    Gracie poured the tea. “’Oo’s ’e responsible fer, the General?”
    “I don’t know. His wife, maybe any of the servants, perhaps a friend.”
    Gracie thought for several minutes. “Wot’s ’is wife like?” she said at length.
    Charlotte sipped her tea and tried to be fair. “Very handsome, very cold.”
    “Wouldn’t a’ bin ’er lover, would ’e, this corpse?”
    “No.” Charlotte could not imagine Augusta dissembling sufficiently to have a lover, let alone one who would be found dead on a doorstep.
    Gracie was watching her anxiously. “You don’ like ’er a lot, do yer?”
    Charlotte sighed. “No, not a lot. But I don’t think she would attack anyone without extraordinarily good reason, and I can’t think of anything that would make her kill someone and then not be perfectly prepared to call the police and explain herself—if, for example, she had caught him in the house attempting to steal, and he had turned on her.”
    “Wot if the General caught ’im?” Gracie asked, taking a biscuit.
    “The same. Why not call the police?”
    “I dunno.” Gracie sipped her tea also. “Yer sure ’e were upset about the body, not summink else?”
    “I think so.”
    “Then I s’pose as we’d better keep up wif everythink as the Master finds out,” Gracie said seriously.
    “Yes,” Charlotte agreed, wishing they could know at least some of it before Pitt found out.
    Gracie was watching her, waiting for her to take the lead with some practical and clever plan.
    There were only two things in her mind: the sense of fear she had drawn from General Balantyne as he stood by the window in his morning room; and her sharp awareness that Sergeant Tellman, very much against his will and judgment, was attracted to Gracie. It was against his judgment because they disagreed about almost everything. Gracie consideredherself to be very fortunate to work in Pitt’s house, to have a roof over her head, a warm bed every night and good food every day. She had not always had these things, or expected to. She also considered that she was doing a very important and useful job, and was appropriately proud of it.
    Tellman had profound feelings regarding the innate social evil of any person’s being servant to another. From that basic difference sprang a host of others on every subject of social justice and personal judgment. And Gracie was cheerful and outgoing by nature, while he was dour and pessimistic. They had neither of them yet realized that they shared a passionate sense of justice, a hatred of hypocrisy and a willingness to work and to risk their own safety to fight for what they believed in.
    “Sergeant Tellman is on the case,” Charlotte said aloud.
    “I don’t see as ’avin’ ’im ’elps,” Gracie replied, wrinkling her nose a little. “I s’pose ’e’s quite clever, in ’is own fashion.” This last was added half grudgingly. “But ’e won’t ’old no favors for generals an’ the like.”
    “I know he won’t,” Charlotte admitted, thinking of Tellman’s opinion of all inherited privilege. No doubt he was fully aware that in Balantyne’s time of office commissions were purchased. “But at least we have him.”
    “Yer mean like ter speak to?” Gracie was puzzled.
    “Yes.” A plan was rapidly forming in Charlotte’s mind, not a very good one so far. “He