“No, she is perfectly aware of her own name and I do not know who she referred to as far as the cake-making goes.”
“Who else could she refer to? Of course it was herself!”
Percy did not answer, as he did not have any strong feelings either for or against either one of Lady Felicity’s ideas. “I must be off,” he said to his father.
His father sputtered. Just at that moment, the viscountess entered the room. “Ah, here you two are. Oh, now what is this?” she asked, looking back and forth between them.
“What this is,” the viscount said, “is me explaining, though it hardly needs explaining, that Lady Felicity must not be considered. And what does he say to it? She bakes cakes, thinksher name is Tulip, and he must be off. That is what you have walked in on!”
“Goodness, you are beginning to sound hysterical, dear. One of these days you are going to drive yourself to a nervous collapse.”
“I warn you!” the viscount shouted.
As his father pointlessly warned his mother, Percy said, “I must retrieve my gloves.” Said gloves were in his hand but it got him out of the room. Rather than jog up the stairs he bolted out the front doors. He was off to White’s to clear up one little matter. It was essential to inform Magnon and Wiles regarding where the case stood between himself and Lady Felicity.
Fortunately, he’d called his horse before encountering his father and it was waiting for him. He leapt into the saddle and trotted down the street, leaving behind the shouts of “I warn you.”
Someday, his father was bound to notice that the viscountess considered his warnings no more uncomfortable than shaking water off a duck’s back—the viscount made himself hoarse for nothing. In the meantime, Percy could not imagine what the neighbors thought about all his warnings.
White’s was rather full, as it was the late afternoon and a moment for gentlemen who were idling away the time before they must go home to prepare for whatever evening entertainments their wives had accepted on their behalf. Some would sensibly drink coffee or tea, and then some felt the need for something stronger before they faced their households. Lord Perry sometimes drank so much fortification that he never made it home at all. The joke about that gentleman was if one invited him to a dinner, one had better be prepared to remove an empty chair at the last possible moment.
Percy made his way into the coffee room and spotted Magnon. A number of gentlemen nodded approvingly at himas he crossed the room. He sat down and said, “It seems I am resurrected as the tiger slayer, at least it appears so considering the looks coming my way just now.”
Magnon stretched out his legs under the table. “Perhaps,” he said, “but the bigger news is it has gone about that you put down Rustmont. Everybody is tickled over the comment that he might be pleased to see Lady Felicityalive, rather than just looking well.”
Percy laughed. “I did say that, though I did not realize it was overheard.”
“Apparently, Rustmont has very suddenly realized he has an old aunt in Dorset who requires his attention. I believe you are being credited for driving him out of Town.”
“He drove himself out of Town,” Percy said. “The masterful Corinthian, running like a rabbit.”
“Hmm, well, it seems a fellow like Rustmont has an Achilles heel—he cannot laugh at himself. Or worse, be laughed at. I suppose he’d rather die than look foolish.”
“If that is the case, one wonders why he didn’t face the tiger and die when he had the chance.”
“I’ve also heard the Duke of Pelham took his own unique revenge on Lady Albright for nearly killing his daughter.”
“The pence and the padlock,” Percy said, laughing. “The cause, though, was a bill Lady Albright sent about a bloodied sofa.”
Magnon shook his head. “You’d think she would know better than to tangle with the duke. I would not try it myself.”
“Nor I, though he is perhaps a deeper character than he lets on. I am beginning to get the feeling that there is a point to the things he does.”
“And how goes it with his daughter? Have you convinced your parents of your hopeless adoration that can go nowhere because Lady Felicity prefers Wiles?”
Percy hesitated. The entire point of tracking down his friends was to inform them that the ruse was off. Now that it came to it, though, he found it hard to say.
Nevertheless, it must be said.
“My father understands that I prefer Lady Felicity, and furthermore, it is the truth. I do prefer her. As truth.”
“Truth? Since when do you go in for the truth when it comes to the marriage mart?”
“Since… lately.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
