Perdita's face filled with horror, then pity. Her chin lifted. "Well, we don't have much company at present, maybe not at all. This could be the very best house in which to train such people." She did not add any note of anger or bitterness, nor was there any in her face. There was no thought of self.

Hester looked at her with a respect which was wholehearted and full of joy.

Perdita recognized it, and it was the final seal upon her resolve.

"Shall we go and tell Gabriel?" she suggested. "Then you really must get warmed up, Mr. Monk. You must be feeling wretched."

"Of course," he agreed. He wished to see Gabriel's reaction himself. He could not rest until he did. He followed Perdita and Hester out of the butler's pantry and along the corridor to the servants' stairs, up them and then through the top door to the main wing. He was aware of squelching with every step, and that someone else would have to clean up after him, but perhaps it was worth it this time.

Perdita threw open Gabriel's door. "It's right!" she said without waiting. "He has got them! They're here!"

Gabriel looked at Monk, his eyes bright.

Monk nodded. "They're in the kitchen, getting cleaned up and fed." Gabriel would know what he meant. "They've been on the streets since they were three years old."

Gabriel's face also filled with pity, and a hard, hurting rage. Even his own disfigurement could not mask it.

"We'll look after them," he said without hesitation.

Monk did not argue. He was so cold that in spite of the pleasure he felt, the almost overwhelming sense of exhilaration and relief, he was now shaking and his legs had almost lost sensation. Shivers were running through him and his teeth were chattering.

Hester must have noticed, because she excused them and took him to the guest bathroom and sent for hot water while she then went to Gabriel's wardrobe to find him clean, dry clothes.

Afterwards Martha sent up a bowl of hot thick soup from the kitchen and Monk sat in a chair by the banked-up fire in Hester's sitting room enjoying the heat inside and out, and the savory taste in his mouth of chicken and herbs.

Hester was watching him, her eyes narrowed, her brows drawn together.

"Did you really mean it that you believe Delphine Lambert is the same person as Dolly Jackson?"