Alex gave her a salute and slid out the back of the box so he didn’t pass the new arrival.
‘Mademoiselle Dora,’ said Percy, bowing over her hand. ‘We meet again. How do you say? I am the bad penny who keeps turning up?’
He said it before she could. ‘Mr Percy, I admit I am surprised to see you here.’ She wasn’t at all, but he expected her to be shocked so that is what she would offer him. ‘I would have thought an evening celebrating a victory over your country’s armies would not be a pleasant experience.’
‘Really?’ He sat down in the seat Alex had vacated. ‘You think I am worried by a few little skirmishes in dusty Spanish towns when the Emperor of France has marched victorious across Europe? Where are the Prussian victories? Or the Russian?’
The waiter arrived with three glasses of punch. Percy took the one ordered for Alex, seeming not to notice that he hadn’t put in his own request. Perhaps he was under the mistaken impression they had exceptional service here.
Dora raised her glass. ‘To victory.’
‘To victory,’ Jacob and Percy echoed.
Dora let the sweet and spicy taste of the drink settle in her mouth, smiling as Jacob pulled a face. He didn’t have hersweet tooth.
Percy swirled his punch, studying it thoughtfully as the leaves rustled above and shadows flickered across his face. ‘I never could understand why you English spoil perfectly decent wine and spirits with sugar and other flavours.’
‘What a trial for you then to be sent back,’ said Jacob laconically.
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I must give it a second chance.’ Percy sipped and shrugged. ‘It does grow on you, I suppose.’
Dora wasn’t sure if they were still talking about punch. With Percy, there was always another meaning hidden under the surface. ‘Tell me,monsieur, why do you want to attend a celebration of a military victory at all?’
‘Is not anybody who is anybody here tonight? I thought I would reintroduce myself.’
‘That might be so, but at a fête like this? When we last met you said you abhorred the waste of lives in the wars across the continent and preferred to fight your battle in the arena of culture. You said that struggle was one for the centuries, not just to settle who gets the upper hand for the next few years.’
‘Ah, you listened so well! How unusual in a lady.’ He raised the glass of the punch he didn’t like to her.
‘You also said you wanted to define European art by collecting the best examples for your emperor’s galleries, but here you are as trade envoy dealing in sacks of grain. What has happened to that ambition?’
Percy curved his lips in his secret smile, the one that said he knew far more than his audience. ‘Why think I have given it up? Who know what chances the next few years will bring someone of my talents?’
‘I think I understand. He’s here for the spoils,’ said Jacob. ‘If you are waiting,monsieur, for England to be defeated so you get first pick of our collections, then save your breath to cool your porridge.’
‘Oh? You think you will win, you with your armies facing so many enemies?’ His brown eyes gleamed with cruel amusement. ‘You’ve foolishly opened a new front in America, taking on an enemy that it makes no sense to fight. I believe that is a fatal strategic error.’
‘We didn’t start that war.’
‘It takes two sides to fight. You could have walked away or negotiated an agreement with the colonials.’
Jacob shook his head but contented himself with serving Dora a share of the ham.
‘You make it sound easy,’ said Dora, picking up the argument that Jacob had let drop. ‘Snap your fingers and say “let there be peace”. Perhaps you should get a position as advisor to Napoleon. There would be much less bloodshed if he decidedthat he really didn’t need to control the entirety of Europe and could content himself reigning at home.’
Percy waved his hand to her but addressed Jacob. ‘Is it not most alluring for a lady to talk politics?’
Jacob started on his own plate, inspecting the wafer-thin ham as if it held the auguries for future victories like the geese on the Capitoline Hill. ‘I wouldn’t patronise her, if I were you, or you might find your tenure in London cut short as you seek medical treatment for gelding.’
Percy propped his chin on his palm and batted his eyelashes at Jacob. ‘Would you help me,moncher docteur?’
‘No, I don’t think I would.’
Percy sat back and snorted. ‘Heartless man. You two are destined for each other, I can see that. Congratulations, by the way. I saw it in the newspapers on my arrival– such a joy to find two dear friends are to be wed. Do not forget to send me an invitation to the wedding breakfast.’
Was that an accurate report of when he arrived? Hard to know with him. As for what he said about the invitation, Dora was not going to weaken Jacob’s standing by explaining she hadn’t exactly agreed to be wed. Better to face society with a united stance. ‘Are you not worried for your safety, being the sole French representative at this celebration?’
Percy looked around the audience that was gathering for the concert. ‘There are bound to be others from my nation in this crowd. Did you not provide a welcome for many who fledthe revolution?Remarquez, I understand England is a dangerous place for any Frenchman,émigréor supporter of Bonaparte. Your murderers do not care to make a distinction.’
