Wharmby straightened himself up, but he looked very pallid. "Certainly not! Whatever next? It is my duty to look after poor Mrs. Duff in every way possible, as it is yours. Go and get Alfred to fetch Dr.

Wade. I shall inform Madam that there is someone to see her. You might return with a decanter of brandy… just in case some restorative is needed.”

But it was not. Sylvestra Duff sat motionless in the large chair in the morning room, her face bloodlessly white under her dark hair with its pronounced widow's peak. She was not immediately beautiful her face was too long, too aquiline, her nose delicately flared, her eyes almost black but she had a distinction which became more marked the longer one was with her. Her voice was low and very measured. In other circumstances it would have been lovely. Now she was too shattered by horror and grief to speak in anything but broken fractions of sentences.

"How…" she started. "Where? Where did you say?”

"In one of the back streets of an area known as St. Giles," Evan answered gently, moderating the truth a little. He wished there were some way she would never have to know the full facts.

"St. Giles?" It seemed to mean very little to her. He studied her face, the smooth, high-boned cheeks and curved brow. He thought he saw a slight tightening, but it could have been no more than a change in the light as she turned towards him.

"It is a few hundred yards off Regent Street, towards Aldgate.”

"Aldgate?" she said with a frown.

"Where did he say he was going, Mrs. Duff?" he asked.

"He didn't say.”

"Perhaps you would tell me all you can recall of yesterday.”

She shook her head very slowly. "No… no, that can wait. First I must go to my son. I must… I must be with him. You said he is very badly hurt?”

"I am afraid so. But he is in the best hands possible." He leaned a little towards her. "You can do no more for him at present," he said earnestly. "It is best he rests. He is not fully sensible most of the time. No doubt the doctor will give him herbs and sedatives to ease his pain and help him to heal.”