“I didn’t! I forbade any of the family from mentioning the incident at all, and he may not even know that Mrs. Pitt was here at that time.” She shook her head vigorously. “I certainly did not tell him. Please, Superintendent. This is a completely private matter, and unless I complain you cannot involve yourself.” Her voice rose and her eyes were wide and dark. “I shall tell you I walked into a door. I slipped and fell. I caught myself on a piece of furniture. It was a ridiculous accident. There was no one else present at the time, so no one can contradict me. If Mrs. Pitt thought otherwise, I shall deny it. She misunderstood. I was hysterical and did not know what I said. There! There is nothing for you to do.” She looked at him with defiance, even the shadow of a smile. “You cannot possibly make evidence of it because no one saw anything. If I deny it, then it never happened.”
“I wish to see him about Miss Bellwood’s past academic career, Mrs. Parmenter,” he said gently. “And what he may know of her personal life. As you say, whatever happened yesterday evening is not a public matter but a private one.”
“Oh. Oh, I see.” She looked taken aback and a trifle embarrassed. “Of course. I’m sorry. I leaped to a conclusion. Please forgive me.”
“Perhaps I should have explained,” he said sincerely. “It is my fault.”
She shot him a dazzling smile, then winced as her cheek hurt. But even her bruising and the swelling across her cheekbone could not mar the radiance of her look.
“Please come upstairs. He is in his study. I expect he can tell you quite a lot about her. He did learn a great deal before he employed her.” She led him to the bottom of the stairs, then turned and said very softly, “Actually, I think he would have been far wiser not to have chosen her, Mr. Pitt. I am sure she was brilliant in her skills, very gifted, so I hear. But her personal life was …” She gave a little shrug. “I was going to say questionable, but I am afraid there were very few questions that were not unfortunately answered … and not in her favor. Still … Ramsay can tell you the details. I cannot. But he was more tolerant than I think he should have been. And look at the tragedy it has brought him.” She started up the stairs again, running her hand up the shining, black banister rail. In spite of the heaviness which lay over the house, she walked straight-backed, her head high, and with a very slight sway which was extraordinarily graceful. Not even this oppression could rob her of her courage or the qualities of her character.
Ramsay greeted Pitt with mild surprise, rising from his seat behind a desk scattered with papers. Vita left, closing the door behind her, and Pitt accepted the chair offered him.
“What can I do for you, Superintendent?” Ramsay asked, his brow puckered, his eyes anxious. He looked at Pitt as though he could not quite focus upon him.
Pitt had an extraordinary sense of unreality. It was as if Ramsay had forgotten his wife’s injury. It did not seem to occur to him that Pitt could have called with regard to that, or even that he had noticed it. Was Ramsay so familiar with the idea of striking a woman, albeit in his notion of proper discipline, that he felt no discomfort that a stranger should be aware of it?
Pitt found it difficult to force his attention to the reason he had given for coming, and indeed it was his secondary purpose.
“I need to know more about Miss Bellwood’s past, before she came to Brunswick Gardens,” he answered. “Mrs. Parmenter tells me you made the usual enquiries about her, both as to her professional abilities and to her character. I should like to know what you learned about the latter.”
“Oh … would you?” Ramsay looked surprised. He seemed preoccupied with something else. “Do you really think it will help? Well, I suppose it might. Yes, naturally I enquired for some references and asked various people I knew. After all, you do not take people lightly when the work is of importance and you expect to associate with them closely. What is it you would like to know?” He did not offer anything, as if he had little idea what Pitt was seeking.