A Lily Among Thorns(105)

The man sneered. “Should have known I’d find you in front of a mirror. Man-milliner.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“Oh, don’t play the shocked parson’s son with me, Hathaway. We don’t pay you to have delicate sensibilities.”

The penny dropped. Keeping a firm rein on his temper, Solomon began, “Perhaps you are seeking my—”

“I am seeking to know how you came to let Sacreval escape. You sodomites do stick together, don’t you?”

Solomon, stunned into speechlessness, saw his brother standing in the doorway.

“Don’t speak to my brother like that, Varney,” Elijah said coldly.

“Don’t you think that’s my line, Li?” Solomon asked. His heart was racing with fury, but he managed to smile politely at his brother’s Foreign Office superior. “Don’t speak to my brother like that, Varney.”

Varney looked from one to the other of them in fascination. “Oh yes, the twin brother. Does he take after you in that respect, too?”

“None of your damn business!” Solomon said hotly.

“Sol, stop,” Elijah said harshly.

Solomon turned to him in surprise and almost missed Varney’s gleaming, sharp-toothed smile.

“Public morality must be the concern of every citizen,” Varney said. “I imagine that is why the pillory is such a popular spectacle.”

Solomon had a sudden pleasing vision of his hands round Varney’s neck while the man choked and turned purple.

“I am so glad to hear you say so,” Serena said from the doorway, breaking through Solomon’s anger. “Perhaps, as a concerned citizen, you can offer me some advice on a rather delicate matter.”

Varney’s sharklike grin widened. “At your service, Siren.”

Solomon thought murderous thoughts, but he waited, because Serena could hold her own against this toad.

She smiled back and came to stand beside Solomon. “I’ve been thinking of publishing my memoirs.”

Varney’s grin disappeared.

“But you know,” she continued blithely, “there are a few passages I hesitate to include, for fear they will corrupt the impressionable reader. You have sons. Tell me, do you think they would be overly influenced by the frank description of the perversions of certain men of rank?”

Varney flushed and turned away with an impotent snarl. “Tell me about Sacreval, Hathaway.”

“Certainly, my lord,” Elijah said politely. “He escaped through a secret tunnel that runs from the kitchen to the laundry. The intelligence I was given had not included mention of this tunnel, so I was unable to have it properly guarded. None of the livery stables in the area would admit to having provided Sacreval with a horse. I have posted scouts on all the major roads leading out of the city and sent men ahead to watch the Cornish coast. He did not get more than a quarter-hour’s start of us. I still have hope of bringing him in before he sets sail.”

Varney swore. “You know there’s no hope of catching him. We can’t blockade all of Cornwall. I take it you’ve had no luck discovering where his couriers land?”

Solomon tried not to look at Serena and not to catch Elijah’s eye.

“None, I’m afraid,” Elijah confirmed.

Varney gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “This was bungled badly.”

Elijah drew himself up. “I assure you that all of us did our best, my lord. The fault was with our information. I had planned to speak to you as soon as possible about the matter. The slip could well have cost Lady Serena, who was Sacreval’s unfortunate hostage, her life. We are all of us very lucky that she escaped with merely a bruise.”

“Very lucky,” Varney said with savage irony.

Serena’s lips twitched.

“Well, keep me informed. I suppose with Boney finally whipped, the Frog can’t do much harm at any rate.” With another seething glance round the room, Varney saw himself out.

Solomon sighed in relief.

“I’m very sorry you had to be subjected to that,” Elijah said stiffly.

Solomon stared at him. “You’re apologizing to me?”

Elijah’s lips tightened. “I know how unpleasant you must find such insinuations.”

Solomon colored a little. “I only wish that our being twins could also convince people I was dashing and enigmatic.”

Elijah looked away, and Solomon wondered what he had said wrong now. “I say, Lady Serena—if I ask you, will you tell me your dirt on Varney?”