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Chapter Nine

Beth stared at Inspector Fellows until she realized this wasn’t a joke "I beg your pardon?"

"Marry me, Mrs Ackerley," Fellows repeated "I ah I know you no longer need to worry about ood"

"And you fear that I’ll drown?"

Fellows grasped her elbow His fingers were strong, like Ian’s "The Mackenzies will pull you under Look what they did to Lady Isabella She was an innocent debutante, and now she’s not received by her own family You have even less social position than she does, and once you’ve lost public regard, you will have nothing Doesn’twith sincerity But there was so behind the sincerity, a watchfulness that she couldn’t quite place

"It is the best offer you’ll have," he said "I’ve seen the gigolos here running after you, panting after your fortune They’ll ruin you I care nothing for youra detective, and I will continue to forge ahead at Scotland Yard"

Beth clutched her parasol’s handle until her knuckles hurt "You amaze me Why should you worry so er blazed fro they touch Any lady who goes nigh that farief I’d like to save one, at least"

"One?" she asked sharply "There have been others?"

"Do you not know the stories?"

Fellows’s eyes glittered It was obvious he wanted to tell her, and Beth was cursed anting to know She studied the sad ruin of-the palace, which the Parisians had already started to knock down Clearing out the past, ridding itself of its ghosts

"Please tellto anyway"