Read Online The Shifting Tide by Anne Perry - Free Book Online

ear. “Mind, I’ve felt like that at times. It don’t last forever, jus’ seems like it. But she got a feller with ’er wot’s askin’ real nice, all proper dressed an’ all. An’ ’e says ’e’ll pay us wot it costs ter look arter ’er, an’ more besides.” She waited expectedly for Hester’s approval.
    Hester felt a stab of pity for the woman, but she could not help the flood of relief that washed over her that someone was here this minute with money, not the promise but the actuality. “Good!” she said enthusiastically. “Let’s go and see him. Whoever he is, he’s come to the right place!” And she followed on Bessie’s heels as they went downstairs and back to the front room.
    The man was standing looking towards them. He was a good height, not unusually broad, but strong and supple. His light brown hair was thick with a slight wave to it, but cut shorter than most, and sprung up from his brow. His skin was weather-burned, his eyes blue and narrowed as if against light that was harsh.
    “Mrs. Monk?” He stepped forward. “My name is Clement Louvain. I’ve heard that you do a great work here for women of the streets taken ill. Am I told rightly?”
    Louvain! She was uncertain whether to show that she knew his name or not. “You are told rightly,” she replied, intensely curious to know why he was there with a woman who was obviously extremely ill. Even at the slightest glance that Hester had been able to afford her, she looked fearful. She was all but fainting where she sat on the couch, and she had not even raised her head to look at either Hester or Bessie. “We help all those we can, particularly if they have not the money to pay a doctor,” she told Louvain.
    “Money is not the problem,” he countered. “I shall be happy to pay whatever charges you consider reasonable, as I told your woman. Plus a contribution so you can care for others. I imagine such a thing would be welcome? Folks can be hard to persuade when they can excuse themselves by a nice moral judgment.” There was a bitter humor in his eyes, and he appeared to know that Hester understood his meaning precisely. He was speaking to her as an equal, at least on the subject of irony.
    “It would be welcome,” she agreed, warming to the intelligence in him, and the dry wit. “Without money we can help no one.”
    He nodded. “What would be fair?”
    She thought rapidly. She must not pitch it too high or he would be angry and refuse to pay, but she wanted as much as possible—at least sufficient to look after the woman well, feed her, give her clean linen, sit up with her if necessary, and give her such medicines as would ease her distress. “Two shillings a day,” she replied.
    He seemed pleased. “Good. I will give you fourteen shillings and come back again in a week, although I imagine it will be unnecessary. She has family who will come for her before then. It is simply a matter of caring for her in the meantime. And I shall donate five pounds to your charity, so you can care for others as well.”
    It was an enormous sum. Suspicions flickered in her mind as to why he would give so much, and who the woman really was. But the money would keep them open for another week at least, and she could not afford to refuse it. After that surely Margaret would have succeeded in persuading at least one benefactor from Callandra’s list who would give something.
    “Thank you,” she accepted. Equivocation or a refusal for the sake of courtesy would be absurd. “What can you tell me about her, so that we can do the best for her we are able?”
    “Her name is Ruth Clark,” he replied. “She is . . . was . . . the mistress of a colleague of mine. She has become ill, and he is no longer interested in her.” His voice carried emotion, but no anger that she could see. There was an intense pity in him, just for a moment; then he realized she was watching him, and he controlled it until it was hardly discernible. He was not a man