William Monk 04 - A Sudden Fearful Death

Hester sharply. “Have the poor creature’s remains taken to the mortuary.”
    Two days later, Hester was in Sir Herbert’s office, having brought some papers for him from Mrs. Flaherty.
    There was a knock at the door, and Sir Herbert gave permission for the person to enter. Hester was at the back of the room in a small alcove, and her first thought was that he had forgotten she was still present. Then as the two young women came in, she realized that perhaps he wished her to remain.
    The first was approximately thirty, fair-haired, her face very pale, with high cheekbones and curiously narrow and very beautiful hazel eyes. The second was much younger, perhaps no more than eighteen. Although there was a slight resemblance of feature, her coloring was dark, her eyebrows very clearly marked over deep blue eyes, and her hair grew from her brow in a perfect widow’s peak. She also had a beauty spot high on her cheekbone. It was most attractive. However now she looked tired and very pale.
    “Good afternoon, Sir Herbert.” The elder spoke with a catch of nervousness in her voice, but with her chin high and her eyes direct.
    He rose very slightly from his seat, only a gesture. “Good afternoon, ma’am.”
    “Mrs. Penrose,” she said in answer to the unspoken question. “Julia Penrose. This is my sister, Miss Marianne Gillespie.” She indicated the younger woman a little behind her.
    “Miss Gillespie.” Sir Herbert acknowledged her with a nod of his head. “How can I help you, Mrs. Penrose? Or is your sister the patient?”
    She looked a little startled, as if she had not expected him to be so perceptive. Neither of them could see Hester in the alcove, motionless, her hand in the air half raised to put a book away, peering through the space where it should have sat on the shelf. The names ran like an electric charge in her mind.
    Julia was talking, answering Sir Herbert.
    “Yes. Yes, it is my sister who requires your help.”
    Sir Herbert looked at Marianne inquiringly, but also with an appraising eye, regarding her color, her build, the anxiety with which she wound her fingers together in front of her, the bright frightened look in her eyes.
    “Please sit down, ladies,” he invited, indicating the chairs on the other side of the desk. “I assume you wish to remain during the consultation, Mrs. Penrose?”
    Julia lifted her chin a little in anticipation of an attempt to dismiss her. “I do. I can verify everything my sister says.”
    Sir Herbert’s eyebrows rose. “Am I likely to doubt her, ma’am?”
    Julia bit her lip. “I do not know, but it is an eventuality I wish to guard against. The situation is distressing enough as it is. I refuse to have any more anguish added to it.” She shifted in her seat as if to rearrange her skirts. There was nothing comfortable in her bearing. Then suddenly she plunged on. “My sister is with child….”
    Sir Herbert’s face tightened. Apparently he had noted that she had been introduced as an unmarried woman.
    “I am sorry,” he said briefly, his disapproval unmistakable.
    Marianne flushed hotly and Julia’s eyes glittered with fury.
    “She was raped.” She used the word deliberately, with all its violence and crudeness, refusing any euphemism. “She is with child as a result of it.” She stopped, her breath choking in her throat.
    “Indeed,” Sir Herbert said with neither skepticism nor pity in his face. He gave no indication whether he believed her or not.
    Julia took his lack of horror or sympathy as disbelief.
    “If you need proof of it, Sir Herbert,” she said icily, “I shall call upon the private inquiry agent who conducted the investigation, and he will confirm what I say.”
    “You did not report the matter to the police?” Again Sir Herbert’s fine pale eyebrows rose. “It is a very serious crime, Mrs. Penrose. One of the most heinous.”
    Julia’s face was ashen. “I am aware of that. It is also one in which the victim may be as seriously punished as the offender, both by public opinion and by having to relive the experience for the courts and for the judiciary, to be stared at and speculated over by everyone with the price of a newspaper in his pocket!” She drew in her breath; her hands, in front of her, were shaking. “Would you subject your wife or daughter to such an ordeal, sir? And do not tell me they would not find themselves in such a position. My sister was in her own garden, painting in the summerhouse, quite alone,