The Angel Court Affair (Thomas Pitt 30) Read Online Free PDF

do,’ Pitt replied waspishly, and then as he saw the laughter in Laurence’s eyes he immediately regretted it. He had played into Laurence’s hands.
    ‘No, Commander, I tell them quite often what they both want to hear, and dread to. It is not displeasing them that would be the kiss of death to my career, it is boring them . . . or, of course, being seen to lie. Like a good actor, you must never break the “suspension of disbelief”. Is she a saint?’
    ‘Why do you want to know?’ Pitt found himself engaged with the man, in spite of his determination not to be. ‘Are you hoping for a burning at the stake? I don’t think we break people on the wheel any more. We don’t even stretch them on the rack.’
    ‘We are very unimaginative,’ Laurence agreed. ‘Is she a saint, or merely an exhibitionist, Commander?’
    Pitt responded with surprising depth of emotion to the idea that she was an exhibitionist. Even the use of the word offended him, but he knew perfectly well what Laurence was trying to manoeuvre him to say.
    ‘You must write your own article, Mr Laurence,’ he answered. ‘Although I imagine you will do that anyway, regardless of what I say.’
    Laurence smiled. In the lamplight his teeth were white and even.
    ‘Well done, Commander. You are supremely careful to say nothing. I admire that. I look forward to discussing the matter with you again. I imagine we will have many chances. All kinds of people will seize the opportunity to come to her meetings and put forward their ideas on the crucifixion, the Resurrection, the virgin birth, and the nature of heaven, merely to begin with.’ He touched his hat with an airy wave. ‘Good night, sir.’

Chapter Two
     
    CHARLOTTE KNEW that she must return home with Jemima, and not wait for Pitt after the evening with Sofia Delacruz, but she was longing to ask him what he had thought of it all, especially of Sofia herself. After seventeen years of marriage she thought she knew him well, and herself even better. But most of the remarks the woman had made, and perhaps even more the burning conviction with which she had spoken, awoke in Charlotte too many awkward questions. Why had she never examined her own thoughts on such issues?
    Was it because she already had all the things that mattered to her: the husband she loved, children, enough money to be safe, and friends? And more than that, there were causes to be fought for. The world was changing even from month to month. Now political votes for women were far more than a dream, and she was more involved in the fight than she had told Pitt.
    She would tell him, of course, but in time. It was exciting. If women had a voice in government, even if it was only the power to withhold their support, it would be the beginning of a new age in reform of a hundred griefs and inequalities.
    There were burning reasons to be involved. One of these was an upcoming parliamentary by-election in which cricket hero Dalton Teague was the candidate almost certain to win. He was against the availability of information regarding birth control. It had been a difficult subject for many years and feelings ran very high. The knowledge of such practices was not illegal, it was simply not widespread enough to reach those who desperately needed it: poor women who had child after child until their bodies were exhausted. Many died as a result. Ignorance, fear and social pressures were responsible. Religious beliefs had much influence as well.
    But it was women who died, not men!
    It was the recent death of a friend, giving birth to her seventh child, that had brought the subject so forcefully to the front of Charlotte’s mind.
    But Charlotte had so much, sitting here in the warmth and the dark, beside her daughter, was she too satisfied to need a belief in anything greater, a purpose beyond the immediate future? What did she need to believe in when she already had all that mattered to her?
    What if she were to lose it? What strength was there