Read Online The Angel Court Affair (Thomas Pitt 30) by Anne Perry - Free Book Online

Church of England, which of course are enormous, and also of the Royal Family, whose fortune is not inconsiderable.’
    Pitt was impressed. It was an almost incalculable weight of responsibility. Presumably Hall shared at least some of it with others. He tried to imagine what Sofia’s refusal of marriage had meant to him. Were any of his clients or colleagues aware of her affair in Toledo with a man already married? And a Roman Catholic, at that?
    Why had she wished to see him now, so many years after the scandal?
    ‘Do you know what it was that brought Señora Delacruz here now so urgently?’ he said aloud.
    ‘No,’ Smith answered without hesitation. ‘I have wondered that since she first told me that she must come, and I broached the subject with her. But she refused to discuss it. I knew only that it was of the greatest importance to her. I had the impression that it was something she believed she owed Mr Hall and it could not wait. She has people in Spain who are desperately troubled and relying on her spiritual guidance. I have racked my mind as to what it could be, and I know no more now than I did the day she first mentioned it in Toledo. I’m sorry.’
    ‘Did you know that she was in communication with Mr Hall?’
    ‘No. She never mentioned it.’
    Pitt knew from Smith’s face that he had nothing more to say on the subject. ‘Do you know if it might concern any of the threats she has received?’ he said instead.
    Smith looked startled. ‘I had not connected the idea. Certainly not any she told me about. But if it was something she kept to herself, then of course it is possible.’ There was doubt in his voice. ‘But she was not running away from anyone. If she were it would not be to Barton Hall, or to somewhere as vulnerable as Angel Court. There are places in Spain where she would be far safer, and which would not require such travel.’
    ‘So even before she proposed coming here she received threats to her life?’ Pitt was not yet prepared to let the matter rest.
    ‘Yes,’ Smith agreed unhappily. ‘But it was almost always that God would destroy her, for blasphemy rather than an intent that the writer would.’
    ‘The writer was not the instrument of God?’
    Smith’s lips tightened. ‘Sometimes. I don’t know whether to take such people seriously. Perhaps that is because my conviction is that anyone may believe whatever they wish. Intolerance is a greater offence against God than holding a strange or even inconsistent belief. You have the right to worship anything you wish – a pile of stones in your garden – as long as you do not injure others. God gave you that, and I have no right whatsoever to mock you, or prevent you doing so. And I know that—’ He stopped abruptly, and then looked at Pitt. ‘I can hear Sofia’s voice in my words. But that is the truth, whatever Barton Hall may believe. Please find her, Mr Pitt. This whole . . . whole journey has become a fiasco. I must keep up everyone’s spirits.’ He rose to his feet. ‘There is nothing more I can tell you. I doubt there is anything further Ramon could tell you, and certainly not Henrietta. Please don’t distress them unnecessarily.’
    ‘I will do all I can to protect them,’ Pitt promised. ‘Now may I see these letters, Mr Smith?’
    ‘Of course.’ Smith pulled open a drawer in the beautiful old oak desk and pulled out a pile of letters, still in their envelopes. He passed them over to Pitt, and then rose stiffly to his feet. ‘I shall leave you to read them.’
    Pitt opened the first letter and read it. It was written in pen in a scrawled hand right from one side of the page to the other, tilting slightly downwards at the end of each line.
     
Sofia Delacruz,
You are a blasphemer against the God who created you.
You are feeding poison to the people who believe in truth and you should be stoned to death, as all liars deserve. You are a servant of the devil and will surely die in hell.
     
    It was signed with a