A line that stands out In Etude in Black is when Mrs Benedict asks her mother in the restaurant whether the Welles girl was someone you might find attractive, then her mother replies saying something like; “she was a pianist, the poor girl, something that should concern none of us. Now I’ll order for you.” It seems a strange reply, I’m trying to work out if she’s simply saying whether she is attractive or not is irrelevant, think of her as just a pianist, or whether it’s something deeper?
For example, maybe she realises that these kind of juicy details might bring unwanted attention to the orchestra and she’s trying to prevent the narrative from escalating. Indeed, in the same scene when Mrs Benedict is asked “I thought perhaps your husband might know something” her mother steps in very quickly to shut it down.