"Indeed," he said encouragingly.
The wind caught at her bonnet, pulling it a little sideways, but she disregarded it. He wondered if she was trying to find a way to say what Sir Basil had prompted, and if the words would be his or her own.
Two little girls in frilled dresses passed by with their governess, walking very stiffly, eyes ahead as if unaware of the soldier coming the other way.
"It is not impossible that one of the servants, one of the men, entertained such-such ludicrous ideas-and became overfamiliar."
They had almost stopped. Romola poked at the ground with the ferrule of her umbrella.
"If-if that happened, and she rebuffed him soundly- possibly he became angry-incensed-I mean…" She tailed off miserably, still avoiding looking at him.
"In the middle of the night?" he said dubiously. "He was certainly extremely bold to go to her bedroom and try such a thing."
The color burned up her cheeks.
"Someone did," she pointed out with a catch in her voice, still staring at the ground. "I know it seems preposterous. Were she not dead, I should laugh at it myself."
“You are right,'' he said reluctantly. "Or it may be that she discovered some secret that could have ruined a servant had she told it, and they killed her to prevent that."
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "Oh-yes, I suppose that sounds… possible. What kind of a secret? You mean dishonesty-immorality? But how would Tavie have learned of it?"
"I don't know. Have you no idea where she went that afternoon? '' He began to walk again, and she accompanied him.
"No, none at all. She barely spoke to us that evening, except a silly argument over dinner, but nothing new was said."
"What was the argument about?"
"Nothing in particular-just frayed tempers." She looked straight ahead of her. "It was certainly nothing about where she went that afternoon, and nothing about any secret."
"Thank you, Mrs. Moidore. You have been very courteous." He stopped and she stopped also, relaxing a little as she sensed he was leaving.
"I wish I could help, Mr. Monk," she said with her face suddenly pinched and sad. For a moment grief overtook anxiety for herself and fear for the future. "If I recall anything-"
"Tell me-or Mr. Evan. Good day, ma'am."
"Good day." And she turned and walked away, but when
she had gone ten or fifteen yards she looked back again, not to say anything, simply to watch him leave the path and go back towards Piccadilly.
Monk knew that Cyprian Moidore was at his club, but he did not wish to ask for entry and interview him there because he felt it highly likely that he would be refused, and the humiliation would burn. Instead he waited outside on the pavement, kicking his heels, turning over in his mind what he would ask Cyprian when he finally came out.
Monk had been waiting about a quarter of an hour when two men passed him walking up towards Half Moon Street. There was something in the gait of one of them that struck a sharp chord in his memory, so vivid that he started forward to accost him. He had actually gone half a dozen steps before he realized that he had no idea who the man was, simply that for a moment he had seemed intimately familiar, and that there was both hope and sadness in him in that instant-and a terrible foreboding of pain to come.
He stood for another thirty minutes in the wind and fitful sun trying to bring back the face that had flashed on his recollection so briefly: a handsome, aristocratic fece of a man at least sixty. And he knew the voice was light, very civilized, even a little affected-and knew it had been a major force in his life and the realization of ambition. He had copied him, his dress, his manner, even his inflection, in trying to lose his own unsophisticated Northumberland accent.
But all he recaptured were fragments, gone as soon as they were there, a feeling of success which was empty of flavor, a recurring pain as of some loss and some responsibility unfulfilled.
He was still standing undecided when Cyprian Moidore came down the steps of his club and along the street, only noticing Monk when he all but bumped into him.
"Oh-Monk." He stopped short. "Are you looking for me?"
Monk recalled himself to the present with a jolt.
"Yes-if you please, sir."
Cyprian looked anxious. "Have you-have you learned something?"
"No sir, I merely wanted to ask you more about your fern-fly."
"Oh." Cyprian started to walk again and Monk fell in beside him, back towards the park. Cyprian was dressed extremely fashionably, his concession to mourning in his dark coat over the jacket above the modern short waistcoat with its shawl collar, and his top hat was tall and straight sided. "Couldn't it have waited until I got home?" he asked with a frown.
"I just spoke to Mrs. Moidore, sir; in Green Park."
Cyprian seemed surprised, even a trifle discomfited. "I doubt she can tell you much. What exactly is it you wish to ask?"
Monk was obliged to walk smartly to keep up with him. "How long has your aunt, Mrs. Sandeman, lived in your father's house, sir?"
Cyprian winced very slightly, only a shadow across his face.
"Since shortly after her husband died," he replied brusquely.
Monk lengthened his own stride to match, avoiding bumping into the people moving less rapidly or passing in the opposite direction.
"Are she and your father very close?" He knew they were not; he had not forgotten the look on Fenella's face as she had left the morning room in Queen Anne Street.
Cyprian hesitated, then decided the lie would be transparent, if not now, then later.
"No. Aunt Fenella found herself in very reduced circumstances." His fece was tight; he hated exposing such vulnerability. "Papa offered her a home. It is a natural family responsibility."
Monk tried to imagine it, the personal sense of obligation, the duty of gratitude, the implicit requirement of certain forms of obedience. He would like to know what affection there was beneath the duties, but he knew Cyprian would respond little to an open inquiry.
A carriage passed them too close to the curb, and its wheels sent up a spray of muddy water. Monk leaped inwards to preserve his trousers.
"It must have been very distressing for her to find herself suddenly thrown upon the resources of others," he said sympathetically. It was not feigned. He could imagine Fenella's shock-and profound resentment.
"Most," Cyprian agreed taciturnly. "But death frequently leaves widows in altered circumstances. One must expect it."
"Did she expect it?" Monk absently brushed the water off his coat.
Cyprian smiled, possibly at Monk's unconscious vanity.
“I have no idea, Mr. Monk. I did not ask her. It would have been both impertinent and intrusive. It was not my place, nor is it yours. It happened many years ago, twelve to be precise, and has no bearing on our present tragedy."
"Is Mr. Thirsk in the same unfortunate position?" Monk kept exactly level with him along the pavement, brushing past three fashionable ladies taking the air and a couple dallying in polite flirtation in spite of the cold.
"He resides with us because of misfortune," Cyprian snapped. "If that is what you mean. Obviously he was not widowed." He smiled briefly in a sarcasm that had more bitterness than amusement.
"How long has he lived in Queen Anne Street?"
“About ten years, as far as I recall.''
"And he is your mother's brother?"
"You are already aware of that." He dodged a group of gentlemen ambling along deep in conversation and oblivious of the obstruction they caused. "Really, if this is a sample of your attempts at detection, I am surprised you maintain employment. Uncle Septimus occasionally drinks a little more than you may consider prudent, and he is certainly not wealthy, but he is a kind and decent man whose misfortune has nothing whatever to do with my sister's death, and you will learn nothing useful by prying into it!"