The Twisted Root

waiting.
    There was no time for skirting around the edges of meaning.
    "Would you please describe Mrs. Gardiner for me?" he asked. He wanted a picture in his mind, not only to allow him to imagine her himself but to know how Mrs. Stourbridge saw her.
    She looked surprised. "Where will you look, Mr. Monk? We have no idea where she could have gone. Obviously, we have already tried her home, and she has not returned there. Her housemaid had not heard from her since she left to come here."
    "I would like a woman’s view of her," he explained. "Rather less romantic, and perhaps more accurate."
    "Oh. I see. Yes, of course." She leaned back. She was slender, probably in her mid-forties, and there was a natural elegance in the way she held her hands and in the sweep of her huge skirts over the chair. Looking at her face, Monk thought her observation of Miriam Gardiner would be clear and un-sentimental, perhaps the first that might offer some genuine insight into her character. He watched her attentively.
    "She is of average height," Verona began, measuring her words. "Perhaps a trifle plumper than would be the choice for a young woman. I daresay my son has already told you she was at least nine years older than he?"
    "At least?" he questioned. "You mean she admitted to nine but you personally think it might be more?"
    She shrugged delicately without answering. "She has excellent hair, fair and thick and with a becoming natural wave," she continued. "Blue eyes, quite good complexion and teeth. Altogether a generous face indicating good nature and at least averagely good health. She dressed becomingly, but without extravagance. I should imagine well within a moderate income."
    "She sounds a paragon of virtues, Mrs. Stourbridge," Monk remarked a little dryly. "I do not yet see a woman of flesh and blood — indeed, a real woman at all—merely a recital of admirable qualities."
    Her eyebrows rose sharply. She stared at him with chill, then as he stared back, gradually she relaxed.
    "I see," she conceded. "Of course. You asked me what she looked like. She was most pleasing. Her character was also agreeable, but she was not incapable of independent thought. You are asking me if she had faults? Of course. She was stubborn at times. She had some strange and unsuitable views on certain social issues. She was overfamiliar with the servants, which caused difficulties now and then. I think she had much to learn in the running of a house of the size and standard my son would have required." She kept her eyes steadily on Monk’s. "Very possibly, she would not have been our first choice of wife for him. There are many more suitable young women of our acquaintance, but we were not unhappy with her, Mr. Monk, nor could she have imagined that we were."
    "Not even if she failed to give him an heir?" It was an intrusive and intimate question, and a subject upon which emotions were often deep. Women had been abandoned because of it throughout history.
    She looked a little pale, but her hands did not tighten in her lap.
    "Of course, anyone would wish an heir, but if you accept a person, then you must do so wholeheartedly. It is not something she could help. If I thought she would have deliberately denied him, then I would blame her for it, but one thing I am perfectly sure of, and that is that she loved him. I do not know where she has gone, or why, Mr. Monk. I would give a great deal for you to be able to find her and bring her back to us, unharmed and as gentle and loving as she was before."
    Monk could not doubt her. The emotion in her voice betrayed a depth of distress he could feel, in spite of the fact they had met only moments before and he knew nothing of her beyond the little that was obvious.
    "I will do all I can, Mrs. Stourbridge," he promised. "I believe you did not see her leave the croquet party?"
    "No. I was speaking to Mrs. Washburne and my attention was engaged. She is not an easy woman."
    "Was Mrs. Gardiner apprehensive before the party?"
    "Not at all. She was extremely happy." There was no shadow in her face.
    "Did she know all the guests?"
    "Yes. She and I made up the list together."
    "Did anyone come who was uninvited? Perhaps a companion to one of the invited guests?"
    "No."
    "Was there any disagreement or unpleasantness, unwishedfor attention?"
    "No." She shook her head slightly, but her eyes did not leave his. "It was a most enjoyable day. The weather was perfect. No one spoiled it by inappropriate behavior. I have