William Monk 18 - A Sunless Sea

merely paper. I … I regret having used them to obtain justice.”
    “I regret that you had to,” Pendock replied. “You did not create the truth; you merely used it. I shall be retiring from the bench. I imagine after this victory, you may well be offered it. For reasons that must be obvious, I shall not mention our arrangement. You may believe me, or not, but I truly thought I was serving my country in attempting to prevent you from frightening the general public from using the only medicine easily available to them. I thought Lambourn was a foolish man wishing to curtail the freedom of ordinary people seeking some respite from the worst of their afflictions, perhaps even a man attempting to keep the sale of opium in the hands of a very few, of whom I was told he might be one. God forgive me.”
    “I know,” Rathbone answered softly. “It was very believable. Our record of the use and abuse of opium, the smuggling and the crime already attached to it, are damnable. Alvar Doulting is only one of its victims, Joel Lambourn another, Zenia Gadney a third. We must become far wiser in the treatment of pain, of every sort. This is a warning we ignore at our peril.”
    “You will make a good judge,” Pendock said, biting his lip, his face pale and tight with regret.
    “Maybe,” Rathbone answered. “I imagine it is a great deal more difficult than it looks from the floor of the courtroom, where your loyalties are defined for you.”
    “Indeed,” Pendock answered. “I have found nothing harder in life than to be certain of my loyalties. I am sure in my head; it is my heart that ruins it all.”
    Rathbone thought of Margaret. “It always does. It would be easier not to love,” he agreed.
    “And become the walking dead? Is that what you want?” Pendock asked.
    “No.” Rathbone had no hesitation. “No, it isn’t. Good luck, sir.” He went out without looking backward, leaving Pendock to his thoughts.
    Outside in the hall he almost bumped into Monk.
    Monk looked at him with intense concern.
    Rathbone wanted to affect indifference, but the warmth in Monk’s eyes made it impossible. He stood still, waiting for Monk to speak first.
    “You used them, didn’t you?” Monk asked. “Ballinger’s photographs.”
    Rathbone thought of lying, but discarded the idea. “Yes. This was too big, too monstrous to think only of my own peace of mind.” He searched Monk’s face now, afraid of what he would see.
    Monk smiled. “So would I … I think,” he said quietly. “The burden is heavy either way.”

To Frances and Henry

By Anne Perry
 
(Published by The Random House Publishing Group)
    The Sheen on the Silk
    F EATURING W ILLIAM M ONK
The Face of a Stranger

A Dangerous Mourning

Defend and Betray

A Sudden, Fearful Death

The Sins of the Wolf

Cain His Brother

Weighed in the Balance

The Silent Cry

A Breach of Promise

The Twisted Root

Slaves of Obsession

Funeral in Blue

Death of a Stranger

The Shifting Tide

Dark Assassin

Execution Dock

Acceptable Loss

A Sunless Sea
    F EATURING C HARLOTTE AND T HOMAS P ITT
The Cater Street Hangman

Callander Square

Paragon Walk

Resurrection Row

Bluegate Fields

Rutland Place

Death in the Devil’s Acre

Cardington Crescent

Silence in Hanover Close

Bethlehem Road

Farriers’ Lane

Hyde Park Headsman

Traitors Gate

Pentecost Alley

Ashworth Hall

Brunswick Gardens

Bedford Square

Half Moon Street

The Whitechapel Conspiracy

Southampton Row

Seven Dials

Long Spoon Lane

Buckingham Palace Gardens

Treason at Lisson Grove

Dorchester Terrace
    T HE C HRISTMAS N OVELS
A Christmas Journey

A Christmas Visitor

A Christmas Guest

A Christmas Secret

A Christmas Beginning

A Christmas Grace

A Christmas Promise

A Christmas Odyssey

A Christmas Homecoming
    T HE W ORLD W AR I N OVELS
No Graves as Yet

Shoulder the Sky

Angels in the Gloom

At Some Disputed Barricade

We Shall Not Sleep

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    A NNE P ERRY is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including
A Sunless Sea
and
Acceptable Loss
, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including
Dorchester Terrace
and
Treason at Lisson Grove
. She is also the author of a series of five World War I novels, nine Christmas novels, most recently
A Christmas Homecoming
, and a historical novel,
The Sheen on the Silk
, set in the Ottoman Empire. She lives in Scotland.
    www.AnnePerry.net