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place and done all he could to obscure the evidence. That was a crime. No ability to solve the cotton industry problems in Manchester could justify that-in fact, there was no stretch of the imagination which could connect it at all with his keeping of a mistress in Eden Lodge. It was a private weakness, an indulgence for which he would now have to pay very heavily indeed.

She looked at the anxiety in Pitt's face and a wave of anger swept over her that he should be expected to carry the responsibility for rescuing a man from his own folly, and then blamed because he could not do what any fool could see was impossible. He was being coerced into trying to evade a truth which it was both his duty and his own moral need to expose. For years they had used him to do that; now they had forced him into the position of denying the very values which had made him honorable before.

He looked up quickly and caught her glance.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled. "Nothing. I'm going to see Emily this morning. I know Grandmama will be there, and I haven't really managed to speak to her without embarrassment ever since Mama learned about... what happened to her." She still found it uncomfortable to speak of... even to Pitt. "It is more than time I did so," she went on hastily. She had arranged the visit over the telephone the previous evening, after speaking with Gracie. Pitt had a telephone because of his professional need for it, and Emily had one because she could afford pretty well anything she cared for.

The shadow of a smile crossed Pitt's face for an instant. He was long acquainted with Charlotte's grandmother and knew her temper of old.

Charlotte said no more about it, and when Pitt left, without letting her know what he hoped to seek or to find that day, she went upstairs and changed into her best morning gown. She did not follow fashion-it was far beyond her financial means, the more so since Pitt had been demoted from being in charge of Bow Street to working for Special Branch-but a well-cut gown in a color that was flattering had a dignity no one could rob from her. She chose a warm, autumn shade to complement her auburn-toned hair and honey-fair complexion. The gown had not the current high-shouldered sleeves, but the almost nonexistent bustle was just right.

It was not an occasion for the omnibus, so she took the price of a hansom out of the housekeeping money, and arrived at Emily's opulent town house at quarter past ten.

She was shown in by a parlor maid who knew her well and conducted her immediately to Emily's boudoir-that private sitting room wealthy ladies kept for the entertaining of close friends.

Emily was waiting for her, dressed as always with the utmost elegance, in her favorite pale green which so suited her fair coloring. She stood up as soon as Charlotte was in the room, excitement in her face, her eyes bright. She came forward and gave Charlotte a quick kiss, then stood back. "So what has happened?" she demanded. "You said it was important. It sounds terribly heartless of me to put it into words, I know, when it was a real blow to Thomas, and so unjust, but I really mind his leaving Bow Street. I've no idea what cases he has now, but they all seem to be secret." She stepped back and waved to Charlotte to be seated in one of the soft, floral-fabric-covered chairs. "I'm bored to tears with society, and even politics seems terribly tedious at the moment," she went on, sweeping her skirts tidily and sitting down herself. "There isn't even a decent scandal, except the one about the Egyptian woman." She leaned forward, her face vivid. "Did you know that the newspapers are demanding that Saville Ryerson be arrested as well? Isn't that absurd?" Her eyes searched Charlotte's face questioningly. "I suppose Thomas would have been working on that if he were still at Bow Street. Perhaps it's just as well he isn't. I wouldn't like the untangling of that affair!"

"I'm afraid my case is very pedestrian," Charlotte said, trying to keep her face comparatively expressionless. She could not afford to be sidetracked now, even by the most colorful of scandals. She sat back in the chair. The room was gold and green and there were late yellow roses and earthy-smelling chrysanthemums in a dark