Page 10 of A Sunless Sea (William Monk 17)

Her eyes widened in amazement. “That man, Mickey Parfitt, he was filth!” she said with scorching contempt. “Worse than vermin. You know what he did.”

“And the girl?” he said quietly.

“What girl?” She looked blank.

“The girl he killed as well?”

“The prostitute!”

“Yes, the prostitute,” he replied coldly. “Was she vermin, too?”

“She would have had him hanged!” she exclaimed.

“So that justified him killing her? That’s your courage, your brave morality? Personally deciding who lives and who dies, rather than leaving it to the law?”

“He had reasons, terrible choices to make.” Now the tears ran freely down her cheeks. “He was my father! I loved him.” She said it as if that explained it all. He began to realize at last that for her, it did.

“So I should forgive him, no matter what he did?” he asked.

“Yes! Is that so difficult?” It was a challenge, demanded in fury and despair.

“Then what a pity you did not love me also.” He said the words so softly, they were little more than a whisper.

She gasped. Her eyes went wide. “That’s not fair!”

“It’s perfectly fair,” he replied. “And since I cannot place your family before what is right, then perhaps I did not love you, either. That seems to be your conclusion, and by your way of measuring love, you are right. I am sorry. I truly believed otherwise.” He stood still for a moment, but she did not say anything. He turned to leave. He had reached the door when finally she spoke.

“Oliver …”

He stopped, then looked back at her. “Yes?”

She made a helpless little gesture with her hands. “I thought I had something to say, but I don’t.” It was an admission of failure, a closing of the door.

The pain overwhelmed him, not for something lost so much as for the fading of a dream that had once seemed completely real. He walked out of the room.

The parlor maid was waiting in the hall, as if she had known he would not be staying. She handed him his coat, and then his hat. Mrs. Ballinger was not in sight, and it seemed faintly ridiculous to go looking for her to tell her he was leaving. It would only embarrass them both. There was nothing to say. Better simply to go.

He thanked the parlor maid and went out into the darkness. The air was cold now, but he barely noticed. He walked briskly until he came to the nearest cross street where he could find a hansom to take him home.

Rathbone walked into his own wide, gracious hall to be told by Ardmore that there was someone waiting for him in his withdrawing room.

“Who is it?” he asked with some irritation. Whatever it was, he was in no mood to deal with it tonight. Even if some client had been arrested and was in jail, there was nothing he could do about it at this hour.

“Mr. Brundish, sir,” Ardmore replied. “He says he has something of great importance to give you, and he is unable to return in the morning because of other commitments. I explained to him that you were out, and that I did not know at what time you might return, but he was adamant, sir.”

“Yes, you did the right thing,” Rathbone said wearily. “I suppose I had better go and take delivery of whatever it is. What is it, do you know? A letter of some sort, I suppose.”

“No, Sir Oliver, it is quite a large parcel, and from the way he carried it, it seems to be of considerable weight.”

Rathbone was surprised.

“A parcel?”

“Yes, sir. Would you like me to bring whisky, sir? Or brandy? I offered him both earlier, but he only accepted coffee.”

“No, thank you. It will only incline him to stay.” He was aware it sounded ungracious, but all he wanted was to accept the package and see the man leave. And very possibly, Brundish was as keen to get to home as Rathbone was to be left in peace.

He walked into the withdrawing room and Brundish rose from the chair he had been sitting in. He was a stocky man dressed in a striped suit. He looked tired and a little anxious.