William Monk 09 - A Breach of Promise

regret in it.” She shook her head as if almost certain. “I cannot believe he has it in him to have hurt Keelin, whatever he felt.” Her voice was very earnest and she ignored everyone but her father. “He wrote that no matter how it grieved him to see me marry someone else, he still wished me happiness. I believe he meant it.” For the first time the shadow of a smile touched her lips. Something sweet had been remembered and it came through even present pain.
    Sacheverall stared at her. Perhaps without being aware of it he took a step backward, opening a greater distance between them. The eagerness had gone from his face. Delphine had seen it. Zillah still had her back to him.
    “I shall speak to you later about your disobedience,” Lambert said to her, but the coldness in his voice was pretense; there was no echo of it in his eyes. “It is up to Mr. Monk whether he chooses to investigate young Gibbons or judges it to be worth pursuing. I have engaged him to learn the truth of Melville’s death.”
    “That, of course, is your choice,” Sacheverall said with noticeable chill. “I have discharged my duties in the matter. My final advice to you”—he looked at Lambert, not at Zillah—“is that you consider the matter ended and resumeyour lives and put it from your mind. You conducted yourselves both legally and morally in a perfectly upright manner and have nothing with which to reproach yourselves. Private mistakes of the past are no one else’s concern. I shall not mention them, and I presume Monk is bound by the same constraints, although of course I cannot answer for him.”
    “You don’t need to!” Monk said savagely. “I consider Miss Lambert’s reputation to be without blemish.”
    Sacheverall gave him a curious look, a mixture of contempt for his naïveté and amusement in the mistaken assumption that Monk admired her in a personal sense and would consider courting her.
    In defense of Zillah, Monk did not disabuse him.
    Sacheverall bade them farewell and took his leave.
    The moment he was gone Delphine rose to her feet, her face white, tight-lipped.
    “You fool!” she said furiously, glaring at Zillah. “How could you be so unbelievably stupid? You didn’t have to say anything about that wretched Gibbons boy! You could have said I took you away because he was pestering you!” She was breathing hard. “You could have said anything at all. A dozen different things would have been perfectly believable and left you with a reputation. Look what you’ve done.” She flung her arm out. “You haven’t the wits you were born with! Or at least when you were a child! Sometimes I wonder where you got your stupidity from. It’s certainly nothing I’ve taught you.”
    She jabbed her finger towards the closed door again. “He would have married you. He was utterly charmed. You were everything he wanted. He has an excellent family, intelligence, good manners and very fine prospects indeed. His reputation is perfect. Do you think I don’t look into these things before I let anyone pay court to you? Do you?”
    Zillah drew in her breath.
    “Well, do you?” Delphine demanded, her eyes blazing. “Haven’t I always taken the best care of you, done everything for your interest, for your welfare and your future? Now in one idiotic conversation you’ve sent another man off out of yourlife.” She gestured towards the door again. “And he won’t come back—don’t hold any hopes of that. He thought you lost your virtue to Gibbons, and nothing you say now is going to change his mind. He won’t look at you again, except with polite contempt. And do you imagine people won’t guess why?” Her voice was rising steadily and getting wilder, and unconsciously she was moving towards Zillah. “Two men attracted to you and then leaving you suddenly—in as many months! There’s only one conclusion anyone with a jot of sense will draw from that.”
    “Delphine …” Lambert interrupted, moving towards her.
    She shook her head impatiently. “Don’t be absurd, Barton! Face reality. People may like her, young men may desire her, heaven knows she’s beautiful enough, I’ve seen to that. But they won’t marry her. Their mothers won’t allow it, whatever they think.” She whirled around to Zillah again, her eyes burning in a white face. “Is that what you’ll settle for? Being liked and desired while all the eligible men marry other girls? I can tell you, it may be fine for another year or