A Poisoned Season

19

Davis was certain that no one had come through the front door, and I was convinced that the Marie Antoinette thief, who in all likelihood had given me the letters in the first place, was not behind this. Someone in the household must have taken them. Reluctantly, I had my butler round up the staff so that I could speak to each of them individually. No one admitted to having been in the library, nor did any of them behave suspiciously in the least.

There was one servant whose absence from these interviews was glaring: Molly, who, according to my housekeeper, had left the house to visit her ill sister.

"Have you had any problems with her?"

"She's a perfectly adequate girl, although I have noticed that she's rather withdrawn from the rest of the staff." This was hardly surprising, given her experience with Mr. Berry. I asked Mrs. Ockley to send her to me when she returned.

"I wonder about her." Ivy had stayed with me. "Are you quite certain that she's not a friend to Mr. Berry?"

"Of course she's not!" I said. "Think what he did to her."

"I suppose you're right. But it's awfully convenient, don't you think, for him to have a servant whom he knows in your house?"

"I can't imagine that he even is aware that she's here."

"I'd want to find out if I were you."

I watched from the window seat as Ivy left, carrying with her four of the most sensational novels I had on hand. I hoped she could lure back Robert's attention, and I hoped that I would not ever lose her friendship. But I knew that as she was drawn further into the world of the Duchess of Petherwick and her ilk, we would be pulled away from one another. This would trouble me less if I thought it would bring my friend a happy contentment. Though I feared loyalty to her husband might in the end lead her to a life of the worst sort of tedium, I knew that she could never bring herself to choose another path.

These thoughts made me relish my own choices all the more. I might have to tread carefully to keep from alienating society, but I would never have to worry about succumbing to monotony. Quite the opposite.

I find it difficult to believe that you didn't know he had a son," I said to Mr. Barber, whom I had found hard at work on another sculpture in his studio.

"I didn't even know David had a mistress."

"But you did know that he offered financial assistance to those he felt needed it?"

"Yes."

"Did he buy houses for anyone else?"

"I don't know."

"Should I expect to find more of his children flitting about London?"

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"You didn't know him so well as you thought?"

"No, no, I can't believe he left a string of mistresses and children," he said. "He was a devoted husband."

"Only if you apply a rather unusual definition of devoted."

"You must not tell Beatrice any of this. It would devastate her."

"Are you quite certain that she doesn't already know?"

"Of course she doesn't! She would have told me."

"Really? That's an awfully private matter to share with your husband's friend."

"If she suspected David of infidelity, she would have bullied me for information."

"Wouldn't she have assumed your loyalty would rest with him?"

"Beatrice and I have been friends for more than twenty years. She knows I would never lie to her."

I stood up and walked over to where he had been working and touched the cool block of half-carved marble. "Were you better friends with her than with him?" He looked away from me. "Were you in love with her?"

"Years ago, but I knew —"

"Did she return the feeling?"

"My income would not allow me to support a wife. At any rate, I can't remember when I last thought of her in romantic terms. It was for the best that we never married; she's not the sort of woman who would make a good artist's wife. I wouldn't have made her happy. Our interests are too different, as are our temperaments. Furthermore..."

The length at which he went on made his feelings for Beatrice perfectly clear. He still loved her.

"How soon did she marry Mr. Francis after she broke off with you?"

"Beatrice and I never had a falling-out. David proposed to her, and she decided to accept him."

"Did you try to stop her?"

"How could I? I wasn't in a position to offer her half what he could."

I thought of Lord Pembroke, who was calmly standing by, watching the woman he loved prepare to marry Charles Berry. Did men not have the same capacity for love as women? How could they react with such tepid indifference to having their passions thwarted?

"Did it never occur to you that perhaps she cared more about you than the money?"

"Maybe she did. But the reality, Lady Ashton, is that I could not have supported her in an adequate way. As romantic as the idea of an abiding love is, it is not something that can overcome every obstacle."

"I think you are too quick in jumping to your doomsday conclusions. You live comfortably."

"What is acceptable for a bachelor is a far cry from what a wife deserves."

"So we women are left to suffer lost love in exchange for a house and an allowance?"

"It is a man's duty to see that the woman he loves has that which she needs. Sometimes that requires graciously stepping aside."

"Oh, Mr. Barber! I do wish men would allow women to make some choices of their own. We'd all be better off."

I headed directly from the studio to Richmond, thinking during the drive about Beatrice and her husband. Mr. Francis had lied to me about his wife's personality. Beatrice, who had come to me accusing me of an affair, presented herself as a devoted wife. As I considered her behavior, which had initially struck me as bold and direct, I began to wonder if she had practiced a deception of her own. Her husband's request that she give me the snuffbox made her believe that he had not been faithful to her. Grief might wreak havoc on one's ability to think rationally, but unless she had already suspected that his affections had strayed from home, why would she immediately leap to such a conclusion?

"I wish you had told me about your feelings for Mr. Barber," I said, sitting with Beatrice in her garden. "I've just come from his studio. You were in love with him."

"Michael is the truest friend I've ever had."

"More so than your husband?"

"Husbands fall into a different category altogether. You know that." She gazed out over the flowers in front of us. "There is always the desire to bring more comfort than distress to one's spouse, and the result is that, on occasion, one chooses to bury painful experiences."

"But I thought that you and Mr. Francis were so close, perfect companions."

"As perfect as husband and wife can be," she said.

"And Mr. Barber was your confidant?"

"In the past few years, yes. He was always on hand to listen to those fears and anxieties with which I did not want to burden David."

"Forgive me for being so direct, but did this have to do with your inability to have a child?"

"What else could cause such pain? I could see the disappointment in David's eyes. I wanted to mourn, to cry, to shout at the injustice of it, but to do so would only have made him feel more helpless."

"Did your husband have a confidant, too?"

"You mean did he have a mistress. He didn't."

"You thought he might when you first came to me."

"I was upset." I watched her as she spoke. "I should never have questioned him. It was disloyal of me." There was a measured tone in her voice, too measured, that made me continue to doubt the veracity of what she said.

"I'm sorry that I brought it up. It was wrong of me," I said. "But I'm afraid I'm going to continue asking difficult questions. Is your financial situation comfortable?"

"Dear me! I'd no idea you were such a competent detective!" She smiled but did not answer my question.

"You mentioned that the pink diamond was not something that your husband could have afforded to buy anymore. What happened to cause that?"

"David had some capital that, coupled with my dowry, enabled us to live without worrying about money. As the years went by, though, and it became evident we wouldn't have a child, he started spending more. Not on us, but on people he wanted to help. Like Michael. He left enough for me, though. I've no cause for complaint."