'How close are we to knowing what they're planning, sir?'

'I don't know,' Narraway admitted. 'It all rests on Pitt now.'

'And you,' Stoker said softly. 'We've got to sort this money thing out, sir, and get you back.'

Narraway drew in his breath to answer, and felt a sudden wave of conviction so profound a helplessness, a loss, an awareness of fear that no words were adequate.

Stoker held out the papers he had brought. 'We can't afford to wait,' he said urgently. 'I looked through everything I could that had to do with informants, money and Ireland, trying to work out who's behind this. This case seemed the most likely. Also I'm pretty sure someone else has had this out lately.'

'Why?'

'Just the way it was put back,' Stoker answered.

'Untidy?'

'No, the opposite. Very neat indeed.'

Now Narraway was afraid for Stoker. He would lose his job for this; in fact, if he were caught, he could even be charged with treason himself. All sorts of possibilities raced through his head, including that of a deliberate trap. Even if it were, he wanted to read the pages, but not with Stoker present. If this were the act of personal loyalty it seemed, or even loyalty to the truth, he did not want Stoker to take such a risk. It would be better for both of them for him not to be caught.

'Where did you get them?' he asked.

Stoker looked at him with a very slight smile. 'Better you don't know, sir.'

Narraway smiled back. 'Then I can't tell,' he agreed wryly.

Stoker nodded. 'That too, sir,'

There was something about Stoker calling him 'sir' that was stupidly pleasing, as if he were still who he had been this morning. Did he value the respect so much? How pathetic!

He swallowed hard and drew in his breath. 'Leave them with me. Go home, where everyone expects you to be. Come back for them when it's safe.'

'Sorry, sir, but they have to be back by dawn,' Stoker replied. 'In fact, the sooner the better.'

'It will take me all night to read these and make my own notes,' Narraway argued, but he knew as he said it that Stoker was right. To have them absent from Lisson Grove even for one day was too dangerous. Then they could never be returned. Anyone with two wits to rub together would look to Narraway for them, and then to whoever had brought them to him. He had no right to jeopardise Stoker's life with such stupidity. It was poor thanks for his loyalty, if that was what it was. Perhaps it wasn't he might have his own entirely different reasons but Narraway clung to the thought that it was loyalty. He needed it to be that, and a belief in the truth.

'I'll have them read before dawn,' he promised. 'Three o'clock. You can return then and I'll give them to you. You can be at the Grove before light, and away again. Or you can go and sleep in my spare room, if you prefer. It would be wiser. No chance then of being caught in the street.'

Stoker did not move.

'I'll stay here, sir. I'm pretty good at not being seen, but no risk at all is better. Wouldn't do if I couldn't get back.'

Narraway nodded. So Stoker understood the risk he was taking. Perhaps it was as well. Never underestimate the enemy. He himself was only just beginning to taste the power of this one.

'Up the stairs, across the landing to the left,' he said aloud. 'Help yourself to anything you need.'

Stoker thanked him and left, closing the door softly.

Narraway turned up the gas a little more brightly, then sat down in the big armchair by the fireplace and began to read.

The first few pages were about the Mulhare case: the fact that a large sum of money had been promised Mulhare if he co-operated. It was paid not as reward so much as a means for him to leave Ireland and go, not as might be expected, to America, but to Southern France, a less likely place for his enemies to seek him.

Mulhare had not received the money, according to Austwick. Instead he had remained in Ireland, and been killed. Narraway still did not know exactly what had gone wrong. He had had paid the money out. At least he had completed all the paperwork to have it paid, and had checked that it had gone. Then, it now seemed, inexplicably, it had reappeared. Someone had evidently intervened so that the end result had been the exact opposite from what Narraway had instructed, and Mulhare had been murdered in the very way he'd feared. paid the money out. At least he had completed all the paperwork to have it paid, and had checked that it had gone. Then, it now seemed, inexplicably, it had reappeared. Someone had evidently intervened so that the end result had been the exact opposite from what Narraway had instructed, and Mulhare had been murdered in the very way he'd feared.

The papers also referred to a twenty-year-old case that he would like to have forgotten. It was at a time when the pa.s.sion and the violence were even higher than usual.

Charles Stewart Parnell had just been elected to Parliament. He was a man of fire and eloquence, a highly active member in the council of the Irish Home Rule League, and everything in his life was dedicated to that cause. There was a sudden resurgence of hope that Ireland might at last throw off the yoke of domination and govern itself again. The horrors of the great potato famine could be put behind them. Freedom beckoned.

Of course, 1875 was before Narraway had become head of Special Branch. He was simply an agent in the field at that time, in his mid-thirties; wiry, strong, quick-thinking and with a considerable charm. With his black hair and almost black eyes, his dry wit, he could easily have pa.s.sed for an Irishman himself. When that a.s.sumption was made, as it was, he did not deny it.

One of the leaders of the Irish cause then had been a man called Cormac O'Neil. He had a dark, brooding nature, like an autumn landscape, full of sudden shadows, storms on the horizon. He loved history, especially that handed down by word of mouth, or immortalised in old songs. He knew half of it was probably invented, but he believed in the emotional truths, the remembered grief. He was a man built to yearn for what he could not have.

Narraway thought of that wryly, remembering still, with regret and guilt, Cormac's brother, Sean, and more vividly, Kate. Beautiful Kate, so fiercely alive, so brave, so quick to see reason, so blind to the wounded and dangerous emotions of others.

In the silence of this comfortable London room, with its very English mementoes, Ireland seemed like the other side of the world. Kate was dead, so was Sean. Narraway had won and their planned uprising had failed without bloodshed on either side. There had been nothing spectacular, just a quiet fading, cold as a winter dusk. That was Narraway's victory; n.o.body even knew it had happened.

Even Charles Stewart Parnell was dead now too, just three and a half years ago, October 1891, of a heart attack. But it was his wild, disastrous affair with Mrs O'Shea that had brought about his fall.

And Home Rule for Ireland was still only a dream, and the anger remained.

Narraway shivered here in his warm, familiar sitting room with the last of the embers still glowing, the pictures of trees on the wall, and the gaslamp shedding a golden light around him. The chill was inside, beyond the reach of any physical ease, perhaps of any words either, any thoughts or regrets now.

Was Cormac O'Neil still alive? There was no reason why he should not be. He would barely be sixty, perhaps less. If he were, he could be the one behind this. G.o.d knew, after the failed uprising, and Sean and Kate's deaths, he had cause enough to hate Narraway, more than any other man on earth.

But why wait twenty years to do it? Narraway could have died of accident or natural causes any time between then and now, and robbed Cormac of his revenge.

Could something have prevented him in the meantime? A debilitating illness? Not twenty years long. Time in prison? Surely Narraway would have heard of anything serious enough for a term so long. And even from prison there was communication.

Perhaps this case had nothing to do with the past. Or could it be that Cormac really understood that Narraway was only fighting for his own country, his own beliefs, as they all were, and this vengeance was not personal so much as against England? Perhaps this was the time when Special Branch would be most vulnerable if Narraway were taken from it and his work discredited? The present stakes for Cormac might be incidental, only an exquisite touch that added to the flavour. Perhaps it had to do with the socialist revolution planned by the European anarchist reformers who would sweep away the old order, with its corruption and inequality, the only way they believed would work, with violence.

He closed the papers and put them back in the envelope Stoker had brought, then sat quietly in the dark and thought about it.

The old memories returned easily to his mind. He was walking again with Kate in the autumn stillness, fallen leaves, red and yellow, frozen and crunching under their feet. She had no gloves and he had lent her his. He could feel his hands ache with the cold at the memory. She had laughed at him for it, smiling, eyes bright, all the while making bitter jokes about warming the hands of Ireland with English wool.

When they had returned to the tavern Sean and Cormac had been there, and they had drunk rye whiskey by the fire. He could recall the smell of the peat, and Kate saying it was a good thing he didn't want vodka because potatoes were too scarce to waste on making it. He had not replied. Even thirty years on, the ruin of the famine still scarred the land. Nothing he could say would heal it, or excuse it.

There were other memories as well, all sharp with emotion, torn loyalties, and regret. Wasn't it Wellington who had said that there was nothing worse than a battle won except a battle lost? Or something like that.

Was the record accurate, as far as he had told anyone? Sanitised, of course, robbed of its pa.s.sion and its humanity, but the elements that mattered to Special Branch were correct and sufficient.

Then something occurred to him, maybe an anomaly. He stood up, turned the gaslight higher again, and took the papers back out of the envelope. He reread them from beginning to end, including the marginal notes from Buckleigh, his superior then. He had not studied them the first time he read it because he knew exactly what they said, and had no desire to be reminded. His own lies had been believed too easily, even if they were largely lies of omission. But then the operation had been on Buckleigh's orders, so he had to accept it. Morally he was also to blame.

Narraway found what he feared. Something had been added. It was only a word or two, and to anyone who did not know Buckleigh's turn of phrase, his pedantic grammar, it would be undetectable. The hand looked exactly the same. But the new words added altered the meaning, only slightly, but enough to cast doubt on Buckleigh's acceptance of Narraway's account. Once it was only the addition of a question mark that had not been there originally, another time it was a few words that were not grammatically exact, a phrase ending with a preposition; Buckleigh would have included it into the main sentence.

Who had done that, and when? The why was not obscure to him at all: it was to raise the question of his role in this again, to cause the old ghosts to be awakened. Perhaps this was the deciding factor that had forced Croxdale to remove him from office. Doubts were enough, if they were sufficiently serious. One did not wait for proof that might never come.

He read through the papers one more time, just to be certain, then replaced them in the envelope and went upstairs to waken Stoker so he could leave well before dawn.

Narraway knocked on the spare-room door and heard Stoker's voice answer him. By the time he had opened the door Stoker was standing beside the bed. In the light from the landing it was clear that the quilt was barely ruffled. One swift movement of the hand and it was as if he had never been there.

Stoker looked at Narraway questioningly.

'Thank you,' Narraway said quietly, the emotion in his voice more naked than he had meant it to be.

'It told you something,' Stoker observed.

'Several things,' Narraway admitted. 'Someone else has been judiciously editing the account since Buckleigh wrote his marginal notes, altering the meaning very slightly, but enough to make a difference.'

Stoker came out of the room and Narraway handed him the envelope. Stoker put it under his jacket where it could not be seen, but he did not fold it, or tuck it into his belt so the edges could be damaged. It was a reminder of the risk he was taking in having it at all. He looked very directly at Narraway.

'Austwick has taken your place, sir.'

'Already?'

'Yes, sir. Mr Pitt's over the Channel, you've no friends at Lisson Grove any more. At least not who'll risk anything for you. It's every man for himself,' Stoker said grimly. 'I'm afraid there's no one for sure who'll help Mr Pitt either, if he gets cut off, or in any kind of trouble.'

'I know that,' Narraway said with deep unhappiness over the fact that he could no longer protect Pitt also from the envy or distrust of those who were part of the Establishment before Narraway took him on.

Stoker hesitated as if he would say something else, then changed his mind. He nodded silently, and went down the stairs to the sitting room. He felt his way across the floor without lighting the gaslamps. He opened the french doors and slipped out into the wind and the darkness.

Narraway locked the door behind him and went back upstairs. He undressed and went to bed, but lay awake, staring up at the ceiling. He had left the curtains open and gradually the faintest softening of the spring night made a break in the shadows across the ceiling. The glimmer was almost invisible, just enough to tell him there was movement, light beyond.

Only a matter of hours had pa.s.sed since Austwick had come into Narraway's office. Narraway had thought little enough of it: a nuisance, no more. Then Croxdale had sent for him, and everything had changed. It was like going down a steep flight of stairs, and finding the last step was not there. You were plunged into a void, arms flailing, and there was nothing at all to catch on to.

He lay until daylight, realising with a pain that amazed him how much of himself he had lost. He was used to getting up whether he had slept or not. Duty was a relentless mistress, but suddenly he knew also that she was a constant companion, loyal, appreciative, above all never meaningless.

Without her he was naked, even to himself, let alone to others. He was accustomed to being not particularly liked. He had had too much power for that, and he knew too many secrets. But he had never before not been needed.

Chapter Three.

Charlotte sat by the fire in the parlour alone, her armchair opposite Pitt's. It was early evening. The children were in bed. There was no sound except now and then the settling of ashes as the wood burned through. Occasionally she picked up a piece of the mending that was waiting to be done a couple of pillowcases, a pinafore of Jemima's. More often she simply stared at the fire. She missed Pitt, but she understood the necessity of his having pursued whoever it was to France. She also missed Gracie, the maid who had lived with them since she was thirteen and, now in her twenties, had finally married the police sergeant who had courted her so diligently for years.

Charlotte took up the pinafore and began st.i.tching the hem where it had fallen, doing it almost as much by feel as by sight. The needle clicked with a light, quick sound against her thimble. Jemima was thirteen and growing tall very quickly. One could see the young woman in her that she would shortly become. Daniel was nearly three years younger, and desperate to catch up.

Charlotte smiled as she thought of Gracie, so proud in her white wedding gown, walking down the aisle on Pitt's arm as he gave her away. Tellman had been desperately nervous waiting at the altar, then so happy he couldn't control the smile on his face. He must have thought that day would never come.

But Charlotte missed Gracie's cheerfulness, her optimism, her total candour, and her courage. Gracie never admitted to being beaten in anything. Her replacement, Mrs Waterman, was middle-aged and dour as a walk in the sleet. She was a decent woman, honest as the day, kept everything immaculately clean, but she seemed to be content only if she was miserable. Perhaps in time she would gain confidence and feel better. It was sincerely to be hoped.

Charlotte did not hear the doorbell ring and was startled when Mrs Waterman knocked on the parlour door. The older woman immediately came in, her face pinched with displeasure.

'There's a gentleman called, ma'am. Shall I tell him that Mr Pitt is not at home?'

Charlotte was startled, and her first thought was to agree to the polite fiction. Then her curiosity intruded. Surely at this hour it must be someone she knew?

'Who is it, Mrs Waterman?'

'A very dark gentleman, ma'am. Says his name is Narraway,' Mrs Waterman replied, lowering her voice, although Charlotte could not tell if it were in disgust, or confidentiality. She thought the former.

'Show him in,' she said quickly, putting the mending out of sight on a chair behind the couch. Without thinking, she straightened her skirt and made sure she had no badly straying hair poking out of her rather loose coiffure. Her hair, which was a rich dark mahogany colour, slithered very easily out of control. As the pins dug into her head during the day, she was apt to remove them, with predictable results.

Mrs Waterman hesitated.

'Show him in, please,' Charlotte repeated, a trifle more briskly.

'I'll be in the kitchen if you need me,' Mrs Waterman said with a slight twist of her mouth that was definitely not a smile. She withdrew, and a moment later Narraway came in. When Charlotte had seen him two days ago he had looked tired and a little concerned, but that was not unusual. This evening he was haggard, his lean face hollow-eyed, his skin almost without colour.

Charlotte felt a terrible fear paralyse her, robbing her of breath. He had come to tell her terrible news of Pitt; even in her own mind she could not think the words.

'I'm sorry to disturb you so late,' he said. His voice was almost normal, but she heard in its slight tremor the effort that it cost him. He stood in front of her. His eyes were so dark they were black in the lamplight, but curiously she could read the expression in them perfectly. He was hurt, and there was an emptiness inside him that had not been there two days ago.

He must have read her fear. How could he not? It filled the room.

He smiled thinly. 'I have not heard from Thomas again, but there is no reason to believe he is other than in excellent health, and probably having better weather than we have,' he said gently. 'Although I dare say he finds it tedious hanging about the streets watching people, while trying to look as if he is on holiday.'

She swallowed, her mouth dry, relief making her dizzy. 'Then what is it?'

A ghost of amus.e.m.e.nt lit his eyes for an instant, then vanished. 'Oh dear, am I so obvious?'

It was more candid than he had ever been with her before, almost as if they knew each other well. She was surprised, and yet it did not feel unnatural.

'Yes,' she admitted. 'I'm afraid you look dreadful. Can I get you something? Tea, or whisky? That is, if we have any. Now that I've offered it, I'm not sure that we do. The best of it might have gone at Gracie's wedding.'

'Oh, yes, Gracie.' This time he did smile, and there was real warmth in it, changing his face. 'I shall miss seeing her here. She was magnificent, all five foot of her.'

'Four foot eleven, if we are honest,' Charlotte corrected him with answering warmth. 'Believe me, you could not possibly miss her as much as I do.'

'I hear intense feeling in your voice,' he remarked, moving to stand a little closer to the fire, although the evening was not cold. 'You do not care for Mrs . . . Lemon?'

'Waterman,' she corrected him. 'But Lemon would suit her. I don't think she approves of me. Perhaps we shall become accustomed to one another one day. She does cook well, and you could eat off the floors when she has scrubbed them.'

'Thank you, but the table will do well enough,' Narraway observed.

She sat down on the sofa. Standing so close to him in front of the fire was becoming uncomfortable. 'You did not come to enquire after my domestic arrangements. And even if you had known Mrs Waterman, she is not sufficient to cause the gravity I see in your face. What has happened?' She was holding her hands in her lap, and realised that she was gripping them together hard enough to hurt. She forced herself to let go.

There was a moment or two with no sound in the room but the flickering of the fire, as if he had not framed in his mind what he meant to say.

She waited, the anxiety growing inside her again, her fingers finding each other and locking.

He drew in his breath, then changed his mind. He looked away from her, into the heart of the fire.

'I have been relieved of my position in Special Branch. They say that it is temporary, but they will make it permanent if they can.' He swallowed as if his throat hurt, and turned his head to look at her. 'The thing concerning you is that I have no more access to my office at Lisson Grove, or any of the papers that are there. I will no longer know what is happening in France, or anywhere else. My place has been taken by Charles Austwick, who neither likes nor trusts Pitt. The former is a matter of jealousy because Pitt was recruited after him, and has received preferment in fact, if not in rank, which has more than equalled his. The latter is because they have little in common. Austwick comes from the army, Pitt from the police. Pitt has instincts Austwick will never understand, and Pitt's untidiness irritates his orderly, military soul.' He sighed. 'And, of course, Pitt is my protege . . . was.'

How can one believe and disbelieve something at the same moment? Charlotte was stunned so her brain did not absorb what Narraway had said, and yet looking at his face she could not doubt it. She felt an uprush of pity for him, and turned away so he would not see it in her eyes. Then she realised what he had said about Pitt and Austwick, and she understood why he had come specifically to tell her.