When the cab drew to a halt in front of White’s on St. James Street, he alighted quickly, paid the driver handsomely, and gave Yvette not another thought.
“Good evening, my lord.” He was greeted at the door by one of White’s renowned retainers, who, after straightening from his low bow, deftly relieved Julien of his cane and cloak.
Julien nodded briefly. “Is Sir Percy here, Henry?”
“Yes, indeed, my lord. I believe him to be in the card room.”
Julien made his way through the dark, wood-paneled reading room, his steps muffled by the thick plush carpeting. Rich vellum-bound books lined the walls— books scarcely ever opened, truth be told— and well-read London papers lay in neat stacks on the heavy mahogany tables. He stopped a moment and thumbed through the Gazette, his eye caught by the latest bit of news of Napoleon’s incarceration on Elba, an island he now ruled as he had France, the little bastard. At least now he was a tin god, his power stripped away.
“It is shocking, is it not, my lord, that the pompous Corsican held Europe so long in the palm of his hand?”
“Indeed it is,” Julien said, as he turned and proffered a slight bow to the arthritic duke of Moreland.
The duke looked pensively down at the paper and continued in his slow, painstaking way, “It is quite beyond me how that upstart little toad achieved such power.” He gave an eloquent shrug of his shoulders that brought a grimace of pain to his face. “But the French, you know, have always suffered from political untidiness. Yes, they’ve always been an unsteady race.”
Julien said gently, “Perhaps it isn’t so unfathomable a turn of events, your grace, when one considers the terrible plight of the French people even after the beginning of the revolution.”
“I hope you are not becoming a republican, my boy. That is surely something your late father would find most abhorrent. He was a stern, perhaps overrighteous man, though, as I suppose you know very well.”
“Yes, your grace. My father was those things and, naturally, more. And, being an Englishman in a country where all men are treated with at least a modicum of justice, I don’t think myself at all republican to comment with truth on the stupidity and blatant greed of the past French monarchs. Surely they were more than simply untidy.”
“Well said, my boy, well said.” His grace beamed, having forgotten his earlier criticism.
“If your grace will excuse me—” Julien said, as he took the old duke’s hand in his.
“Off with you, my lord. Do not forget to pay my compliments to your dear mother. I do hope her fragile health hasn’t faltered.” The duke added more to himself than to Julien, “It is difficult to keep up with one’s friends nowadays, so many of them gone, either dead or just, well, gone.”
“My mother will be pleased, your grace.” Julien smiled, not without a good deal of affection, at the duke before turning and continuing his way to the card room.
He made his greetings to other acquaintances in his casual, easy manner as he progressed the length of the reading room. But he didn’t stop, reflecting with a grin that poor Percy would in all likelihood be mad as hell at him for having his dinner so very delayed.
A footman opened a great paneled oak door to the card room and quickly closed it behind Julien so as not to disturb the more sober club members in the reading room. The card room was ablaze with candles, in marked contrast to other, more sedate rooms in White’s. It was a glittering company, loud and boisterous. Footmen seemed to be everywhere, scurrying from group to group bearing silver trays laden with quantities of drink that would bring many aching heads on the morrow.
Julien gazed around the room at the various tables until his eyes came to rest on Sir Percy, sitting slouched with one elegantly clad leg swinging to and fro over the leg of a delicately wrought satin-covered chair.
He stood quietly for a moment behind Percy, noting with a shake of his head the small pile of guineas stacked in front of him. As Percy shoved most of the remainder toward the faro bank, Julien dropped a light hand on his shoulder.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164