“Of course I know it!” Lady Tallifer said. “But my dear count, this is England. Thetonis all too willing to seize on a speculation and make it a fact.”
Of course, that was true. These people did not have enough to do in a day and somehow could not devise more pleasant ways to spend their time than gossip. He supposed it was the weather that encouragedit. People were so miserable in the fog and rain that they looked for anything at all to take their minds off it.
“What do you advise?” he asked Lady Tallifer. He was not particularly interested in her advice, nor would he be dependent on it. However, it was polite to inquire.
“Perhaps, oh I do not like to say it,” Lady Tallifer said, twisting her hands together, “but perhaps it would be best if you returned home before this goes any further. Then I can go round and dispute the report and it will all die down over time.”
This, of course, was the very last thing he could do. Lady Tallifer could not know the consequences of returning home empty-handed. Returning to the villa with the Mosquito going free and no duke’s daughter on his arm? It would be a disaster on all sides. The marquis had become less and less able to look upon a disappointment with any sort of equanimity. His father had also become more and more intemperate with how he dealt with disappointment.
“Lady Tallifer, a di Compressio never, ever, runs from a fight. The only way to turn is to face it all down.”
“Face it all down?” Lady Tallifer asked in her fluttery voice.
“Face it all down,” Damiano said grimly. “This is a ridiculous rumor and must be faced down.”
He was not precisely sure what facing it all down would entail, but the alternative was running and that he would not do. That, hecouldnot do.
“But there is the matter of the prince’s fête,” Lady Tallifer said, her teeth chattering together.
“What of it?” Damiano asked. The prince had invited thousands to his birthday party so of course he had been included. It was not much of an honor, really. When one invites everybody in London, nobody could feel the honor of it. It was just like that fat fool to do it, though. Damiano presumed it would be a tedious display of English vulgarity.
“I am just afraid, well when somebody in the palace reads this,goodness I have never been disinvited to anything in my life, but it may happen…is what I say.”
Damiano felt the insult down to his shoes. Disinvited? People clamored for him and the marquis to attend their soirees. Was he to be disinvited by that circus performer who called himself prince? Was he to be looked down upon by the likes of that precious Brummel who thought he was the epitome of style?
Who was at the bottom of this report in the newspaper? He must find out. If it was Tramondeley, then that lord would have proved himself more dangerous than he’d originally thought. Whoever was at the bottom of this seemed to have a network of some kind. How else could the information that Monsieur Bernard had installed himself in the villa have traveled here?
If Tramondeley was at the bottom of it, that would tip the scales that had been teetering in Damiano’s mind. He’d been weighing the risk versus benefit of eliminating the Mosquito, but if this was a much bigger operation than had been previously understood…He must find it out. Once he found it out, he must not hesitate to act. His family’s estates might depend on it.
In the meantime, Lady Valor would likely see this report in the newspapers. Would she believe it though? He supposed he would find out at that ridiculous Cornwall party.
“Never fear, Lady Tallifer, I will get to the bottom of this affront. I will expose the villain who maligns the marquis with these outrageous allegations. They will, when they are identified, be drummed out of London.”
As he had expected, Lady Tallifer took great comfort in his assurances. He did not bother to mention that when he identified the culprit, that individual would leave London in a box. For now, he would go to the Cornwall party and see what he could find out. He needed irrefutable proof that Tramondeley was heading up some sort of network. Then he could act.
