The two women leave, and Richard sits, head c****d, listening. When the footsteps die away completely, he comments, “Probably for the best. The company of another woman may be what she needs right now.”
He looks at James long, then at me. “And neither of you knew? Her fiancé and her Master, and neither of you knew anything?”
anythingJames shakes his head, slowly, his expression numb. “I had… no idea….” He looks sick at heart.
“Nor me,” I say. “She never said anything at all and there was never cause to ask.”
Richard sucks in his cheeks. “I realise that I am intruding into personal territory here, and perhaps I have no right to ask this, but given your um… personal arrangements, how well do you actually know her? What do you know about her? Her past?”
personal James and I exchange glan
