William Monk 08 - The Silent Cry

not known,” she whispered back.
    “I don’t think so, not truths like this. They are only better learned at certain times and in certain ways.”
    “What about Sylvestra? How will she bear it?”
    “Little by little, a day at a time, and by knowing that whatever is built upon now will last, because it stands on reality, not on lies. You cannot make her brave; that is something no one can do for someone else.” He stopped, still holding her close.
    “But why?” she said almost to herself. “Why did they risk everything to do something so … pointless?” And even as she said it remarks of Wade’s came back to her, with utterly different meaning now, remarks about nature refining the race by winnowing out the unfit, the morally inferior. And she remembered Sylvestra’s stories of Leighton Duff’s love of danger in his steeplechasing days, the excitement of risks, the elation of having taken a chance and beaten the odds. “What about Kynaston?” she whispered to Monk.
    “Power,” he replied. “The power to terrify and humiliate. Perhaps the righteous image he created for his pupils’ parents was more than he could endure. We’ll probably never know. Frankly, I don’t care. I’m a damned sight more concerned for the families they leave to struggle on … for Sylvestra and Rhys.”
    “I think Fidelis Kynaston will help,” she replied. “They will help each other. And perhaps Miss Wade too. They all have something appalling to face.
    “Perhaps they will go to India?” she thought aloud. “All of them, when Rhys is better. They couldn’t stay here.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed. “Although it is amazing what you can face, if you have to.” He would tell her about Runcorn some other time, later on, when they were alone and it was more appropriate.
    “They’d like India,” she insisted. “There is a great need for people out there who know something about nursing, especially women. I read it in Amalia’s letters.”
    “Do they know anything about nursing?” he asked with a smile.
    “They could learn.”
    He smiled more widely, but she did not see it.
    The jury declined to retire. They returned a verdict of not guilty.
    Hester slid her hand into Monk’s and leaned even closer to him.

For Simon, Nikki, Jonathan, and Angus

BY ANNE PERRY
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
    The Sheen on the Silk
    FEATURING WILLIAM MONK
    The Face of a Stranger
    A Dangerous Mourning
    Defend and Betray
    A Sudden, Fearful Death
    The Sins of the Wolf
    Cain His Brother
    Weighed in the Balance
    The Silent Cry
    A Breach of Promise
    The Twisted Root
    Slaves of Obsession
    Funeral in Blue
    Death of a Stranger
    The Shifting Tide
    Dark Assassin
    Execution Dock
    FEATURING CHARLOTTE AND THOMAS PITT
    The Cater Street Hangman
    Callander Square
    Paragon Walk
    Resurrection Row
    Bluegate Fields
    Rutland Place
    Death in the Devil’s Acre
    Cardington Crescent
    Silence in Hanover Close
    Bethlehem Road
    Highgate Rise
    Belgrave Square
    Farriers’ Lane
    The Hyde Park Headsman
    Traitors Gate
    Pentecost Alley
    Ashworth Hall
    Brunswick Gardens
    Bedford Square
    Half Moon Street
    The Whitechapel Conspiracy
    Southampton Row
    Seven Dials
    Long Spoon Lane
    Buckingham Palace Gardens
    THE WORLD WAR I NOVELS
    No Graves as Yet
    Shoulder the Sky
    Angels in the Gloom
    At Some Disputed Barricade
    We Shall Not Sleep
    THE CHRISTMAS NOVELS
    A Christmas Journey
    A Christmas Visitor
    A Christmas Guest
    A Christmas Secret
    A Christmas Beginning
    A Christmas Grace
    A Christmas Promise

Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including
Execution Dock
and
Dark Assassin
, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including
Buckingham Palace Gardens
and
Long Spoon Lane
. She is also the author of the World War I novels
No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade
, and
We Shall Not Sleep
, as well as seven holiday novels, most recently
A Christmas Promise
. Anne Perry lives in Scotland. Visit her website at www.anneperry.net .