“You and I are the same age,” I pointed out rather coldly. “Or near as. Drink.”
Cynthia sipped the tea, raising her brows as the smooth liquid entered her mouth. She drank several noisy slurps before lowering the cup again.
“Sister, then,” she said. “My own never had much use for me.”
“I would be honored to be considered your sister,” I said. “Now eat some toast.”
“Quite the dragon, you are.” Cynthia nibbled a slice, then her face changed and she devoured the entire piece. “This toast is lovely.” Her voice gained strength. “I must have you bring up my tea every morning.”
“I hardly have the time.” I poured more tea into her cup.“Now, Sara told Tess that you wanted to speak to me. Please do before your aunt finds me here and scolds the life out of both of us.”
“No fear.” Cynthia took another noisy sip of tea. “She’s dressing for one of her charity dos and will be some time perfecting her ensemble. I wanted to inform you that Thanos and I have been sleuthing. We’ve been up and down the Strand and Bond Street looking at shops that sell high-priced ink. We found it.” Cynthia beamed at me, color entering her pallid face. “In the Burlington Arcade. Beautiful bottles of artist’s ink from France. I have a list of who purchased them. I went all wide-eyed and innocent and asked for the shop’s clients, saying I might want to purchase some of the same ink as gifts for my friends, but of course, I didn’t know which friends actually used it. Hold on a tick.”
Cynthia rummaged in the drawer of her bedside table and produced a sheet of paper. The handwriting on it was neat and firm, which told me neither she nor Mr.Thanos had made the list.
Squarely in the middle of it was the name of Viscount Peyton, resident of Belgrave Square.
18
“Excellent,” I cried, forgetting to worry about who would hear me.
Cynthia shook her head, her triumph fading. “Not so quickly. There are quite a number of names on that list. It is a popular brand of ink with aristocrats.”
Indeed, I recognized the name of Lord Downes, Lord Peyton’s neighbor, and more ladies and gentlemen in Belgrave Square and Mayfair.
“Even so, it was well done, my friend.” I sent her a broad smile. “Please give Mr.Thanos my thanks as well.”
“Thanos.” Cynthia’s face fell, her weariness returning. “He is put out with me. I believe my adventure in assisting him is finished.”
“What are you talking about?” I quickly fetched another piece of toast from the tray and dropped it onto her empty plate. “Mr.Thanos is never put out with anyone. He is the most genial of gentlemen. You must have misunderstood him.”
Cynthia shot me a dark look. “I did not misunderstand him taking me to task last night for overindulging and getting thrown out of a gentleman’s club with Bobby. No one tumbled to Bobby’s being a woman, but they guessed at me. The doorman threatened to summon the police, and only Bobby and Thanos, who said he happened to be passing, prevented him. They told the doorman they’d take their foolish woman home and she’d never bother them again. Which means that the club is forever closed to me. Bobby left me in Thanos’s care, and he lectured me something fierce all the way home. I don’t remember much about the ride, but I recall that.”
Tears welled in her light blue eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
“Oh dear.” I took the cup from Cynthia’s hand, set it on the night table, and dared seat myself on the edge of her bed. “Mr.Thanos is only worried about you.Iworry about you. You can be reckless sometimes, and he, like me, doesn’t want you to come to harm.”
“He was following me about.” Cynthia’s gaze was defiant through her tears. “Happened to be passing. Ha. He knew I’d gone to that club. He was hanging about, waiting for me to be thrown out so he could scold me.”
“Nonsense. Mr.Thanos might have been keeping an eye on you, but not because he was waiting to lecture you. He was concerned, as I say, and trying to help. He cares for you, Cynthia.”
“I doubt that very much. If so, he has a damned funny way of showing it. I find his books and sort his papers, write out his long equations that I don’t understand one whit of, make certain his shoes match, and that he doesn’t lose his spectacles. Thanos thanks me profusely, but does he give me one look of tenderness? Try to press my hand or steal a kiss? Not a bit of it.If I try to sit too close to him, he draws away in a hurry. It is humiliating.”
“Mr.Thanos is painfully shy.” I picked up her teacup. “And very much a gentleman. If foolish gestures of passion are what you want, then break the poor man’s heart and find another gent to give them to you. You are a lovely young woman—I’m certain you will find many a gentleman willing to kiss you. But they will not be as kindhearted as Mr.Thanos.”
Cynthia regarded me with a stunned stare as I made this speech. “I, breakhisheart? I doubt I can. I disgust him. You did not hear what he said to me last night.”
“Which was?”
Cynthia blew out a breath. “That I was wild and silly and too anxious to impress my unconventional friends. So much so I’d come to grief.” She broke off sullenly. “Much of whatyousay to me, in fact.”
“You know I never scold you out of disgust,” I said. “It is because I do not want to see you paraded through Bow Street nick where unsavory sorts will taunt you. I quite understand your fondness for Bobby and Miss Townsend, because I have grown fond of them too, but you have no need to go to jail for them. Nor would they wish you to.”
“Bobby and Judes come from powerful families,” Cynthia conceded. “They can get away with much more than I can. I might be an earl’s daughter, but my pa would never bestir himself from Hertfordshire to throw his weight about.” She reached for the teacup. “My way of saying you and Thanos are right, and I am an idiot.”
“Your father would certainly bestir himself.” I thought of Lord Clifford, the feckless gentleman who loved his family more than he’d admit. “He’d race to London and land himselfin great trouble, as usual, and we’d have to pry him out of it, as we have before.”
Cynthia softened enough to laugh. “Again, you are right, Mrs.H. Shall I go to Thanos on bended knee and beg his forgiveness?”
