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Seeing an acquaintance nearby, Arthur went to join him.
“Has your new great-nephew or great-niece been born?” the man asked.
“She, or he, remains imminent according to the latest letter.”
His companion nodded. “Say, do you know some foreign chap, name of Cerda? I was at Manton’s the other day. This fellow seemingly heard me mention your name, and he came slap up to me and introduced himself. Bold as brass. Said he’s a good friend of yours.”
“He is not,” answered Arthur. It was time to administer the setdown this fellow deserved, he decided.
The other nodded again. “Seemed like an encroaching mushroom to me.”
“Precisely.”
“I thought so. Town seems to be full of them. I’ll be glad to be back in the North.”
“You are leaving London?”
“In a few days.”
The season was nearly over. He would be expected to depart as well. Arthur excused himself and went hunting for Señora Alvarez.
He slipped through the press of people, nodding to greetings on all sides. He had nearly made it to the back of the house when he was accosted by Miss Julia Grandison, large and resplendent in magenta silk. “Hullo, Macklin,” she said. “A splendid event, eh?”
“Indeed. I was just going…”
“For Ada’s sake, I am allowing my brother to enjoy his triumph. Before his fall. His opera dancer is called Bella, you know.”
He was not about to admit that he did. He looked to see if anyone else had heard. Miss Grandison had a penetrating voice. But no one was paying them any mind.
“It is not too late to do your part,” she went on.
“My part?”
“To repay me for the service I rendered your young friend.”
Arthur had no idea what she meant.
“Putting him and Ada together,” Miss Grandison added impatiently. “Really, everyone seems to forget my efforts in making this match.”
Because they were entirely imaginary, Arthur thought. “Excuse me, I need to speak to someone.” He moved on before she could reply.
He found Señora Alvarez in earnest conversation with Miss Deeping and Miss Finch. They broke off so abruptly when he approached that he wondered what they had been saying.
The two young ladies excused themselves as he came up. “What were you plotting?” he asked Señora Alvarez.
She shook her head. “They so long to join in a plot,” she said. “But I see no place for them. This matter of the opera dancers is rather more serious than a thieving crow or even a hidden treasure.”
“They told you about unmasking the crow.”
“Each of them, in slightly different versions.”
“They are proud of that.”
“I admire their…ingenio. But the disappearances are not part of the world they know. I think they must be left out of this.”
“You will not exclude me, I hope.” He hadn’t meant to allow so much emotion in his voice, but in the end he wasn’t sorry. It seemed that he had been trying for eons to let her know how he felt.
Señora Alvarez gazed up at him. A man might fall into those dark eyes and lose himself, Arthur thought. Unless he already had. “Can we never be alone,” he complained. They were constantly surrounded by people. He could not take her hand or pull her close in this chattering crowd. He couldn’t sue for the right to do so.
