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it?"
    "Indeed, you look
exceptionally well," he replied truthfully, although he had actually just
noticed it for the first time. "You have found an interest?"
    "How perceptive of you."
    "I am a detective."
    She looked at him very steadily and
for that moment there was honest and equal friendship between them, without
barrier of words.
    "What is it?" he said
quietly.
    "I am on the Board of
Governors in the Royal Free Hospital."
    "I am delighted." He knew
her late husband had been an army surgeon. It was a position which would suit
her experience and her natural abilities and inclinations admirably. He was
genuinely pleased for her. "How long?"
    "Only a month, but already I
feel I have been of some service." Her face was quickened with excitement
and her eyes brilliant. "There is so much to be done." She leaned
forward across the table. "I know a little about the new methods, Miss
Nightingale's beliefs about air and cleanliness. It will take time, but we can
accomplish what will seem like miracles if we work hard enough." Unconsciously
she was beating her forefinger on the tablecloth. "There are so many
progressive doctors, as well as the die-hards. And the difference it makes to
have anesthetic! You have no idea how things have changed in the last ten or
twelve years."
    She pushed the sugar scuttle away,
her eyes intent upon his. "Do you know they can make a person completely
senseless, oblivious of pain, and then recover him without harm!" Again her
finger beat on the cloth. "That means all manner of surgery can be
performed. There is no longer any need to tie a person down and hope to
complete everything in a matter of two minutes or so. Now speed is not the
primary consideration: one may take time—and care. I never imagined I would see
such things—it is absolutely marvelous."
    Her face darkened and she leaned
back again. "Of course, the trouble is we still lose at least half the
patients to infection afterwards. That is where we must improve things."
Again she leaned forward. "But I am sure it can be done—there are
brilliant and dedicated men here. I really feel I may make some
difference." Suddenly the earnestness vanished and she smiled with total
candor. "Finish your pie and have some more."
    He laughed, happy for her
enthusiasm, even though he knew so much of it would end in defeat. Still, any
victory was precious. "Thank you," he accepted. "It is really exceedingly
good."

 
     
    Chapter 2
     
    The following day about ten o'clock
Monk walked along to Hastings Street again and called at number fourteen. This
time Julia received him in a state of some concern.
    "Good morning, Mr. Monk,"
she said, coming in and closing the door behind her. She was dressed in pale
blue-gray and it became her delicate coloring, even though it was a very
ordinary day dress with a high neck and the barest of trimmings. "You
will be circumspect, won't you?" she said anxiously. "I don't know
how you can possibly make inquiries without either telling people what you are
seeking or arousing their suspicions. It would be disastrous if they were to
learn the truth, or even to imagine it!" She stared up at him with
puckered brows and a flush in her cheeks. "Even Audley, Mr. Penrose, was
curious yesterday as to why you called. He is not especially fond of cousin
Albert, and had not thought that I was either. Which is true, I am not; he was
just the most suitable excuse that came to my mind."
    "There is no need to be
concerned, Mrs. Penrose," he said gravely. "I shall be very
discreet."
    "But how?" she pressed
urgently, her voice sharpening. "What could you possibly say to explain
away such questions? Servants talk, you know." She shook her head sharply.
"Even the best of them. And what would my neighbors think? What imaginable
reason does a respectable person have for employing a private inquiry
agent?"
    "Do you wish to cease the
inquiry, ma'am?" he asked quite quietly. He would understand