"I shan't," she promised. Apparently she felt that telling Hester was a matter of honor, a debt to Mary she had no intention of neglecting. "She did not take her own life, Mrs. Monk. Nor did she believe that her father had done so; for him, it would have been not only a sin against the Church, but far worse than that-a sin against himself. And if it was true for him, then it must be true for her. I don't know what happened, but I will do anything and everything I can to help you find out. Any information I can find, any door I can open, you have but to tell me. Perhaps we can still effect the reform she was working on, and save the lives of at least some of the men who would be killed if there were further accidents in the construction."

"Thank you," Hester said warmly. "I will call on you the moment I have a clearer idea of what to do." She turned to Applegate. "What information was Mary Havilland going to bring you? What do you need to know before you can act?"

"Proof that the safety rules are not being kept," he replied. "And I am afraid that proof will be very hard to find. Engineers will say that they have surveyed the ground and the old rivers and streams as well as is possible. Men who work with the machines are accustomed to danger and know that a degree of it is part of life. Just as men who go to sea or down into the mines live with danger and loss, without complaining, so do navvies. They would consider it cowardly to refuse or to show self-pity, and would despise any man who did. More than that, they know they would lose their jobs, because for every man who says he will not, there are a dozen others to take his place."

"And lose arms or legs, or be crushed to death?" Rose demanded. "Surely ..." She stopped, looking to Hester for support.

Hester remained silent. What Applegate said was true. There were tens of thousands like the Collards: proud, angry, stubborn, desperate.

She stood up. "Thank you, Mr. Applegate. I will do all I can to find the proof Mary Havilland was looking for. As soon as I have something I shall return."

"Or if we can help," Rose added. "Thank you for coming, Mrs. Monk."

"No!" Monk said firmly when she told him that evening. "I'll pursue it until I find what happened to both Mary Havilland and her father."

"There's going to be a disaster if nothing is done, William," she argued urgently. "Do you expect me to sit by and let that happen?" She made no reference to giving up Portpool Lane, but it hung unsaid between them.

They were standing in the kitchen, the dishes cleared away and the kettle pouring steam into the air as Hester prepared to make the tea.