A small silence, then a hand descended onPunchand a bright eye and rosy cheek peered over it.
“All right,” Penny said.“Out with it.What are you after?”
“You mean besides undying admiration and boundless gratitude?”He thought for a moment.“My slippers?”
Penny blinked.“What if I just don’t kick you until nineteen-eleven?”
“I’m not sure that’s a promise you can keep,” Crispin said regretfully.
“You’re right,” she said with a sigh.“You’re just too kickable.”
Crispin lowered his magazine and smoothed it out where she had rumpled it.
“What if I do something unprecedented?”he offered.“Lay all my cards out on the table?”
“Allyour cards?“ Penny said, sceptical.
“Well.Most of them,” he admitted.“The fact is: I’ve a certain interest in this whole affair.”
“A certain interest,” Penny repeated, cocking her head like a bird.
“A professional interest.”
“Go on.”
“It’s classified.Has to do with my work.”
“Now what on earth could it have to do withmaps?“ Penny objected.
“The point is,” Crispin persisted, waving his hand, “I want to know whatever you find out about the secret society, and in return, I’ll help you with what I know.Tit for tat.No favours.And just in case you’re wondering—Idoknow something.I’m not bluffing.”
Penny’s eyes were bright, but her voice was cautious.“You won’t scoop me?”
“Scoop you?”
Penny folded her arms.“They fired the last female reporter at the Daily Mail because she was on intimate terms with a reporter at a rival paper.”
Crispin’s eyebrows shot up.
“It so happens he was her lawful husband,” Penny went on.“But it didn’t matter.And it wouldn’t matter to my editor that you’re my brother.If there’s a leak on an important story, I’m out.They won’t give me another chance.They don’t, when you’re a woman.”
Crispin leaned forward.“I promise: this has got nothing to do with another paper.I don’t have any ambition to see my name in print.And…I don’t know if this will mean anything to you, but…” He cleared his throat.“I find I want you to make a go of this.”
Penny raised her eyebrows.
“I really do,” he said, resisting the urge to loosen his collar.This wasn’t the sort of conversation they usually had.“You’re happier since you’ve started this gig.”He paused.Then he laughed lightly.“And it makes you a good deal pleasanter to live with.”
Penny snorted.“Well, thanks awfully.Anything else I should know?”
“Just one.You can’t tell Father.”
Penny looked sharp.“Crispin, whatareyou up to?”
“Nothing sinister.”He gave her a smile, the sort that he hoped would put her at ease.“You aren’t the only one who feels the need to prove themselves in this family.”
“Oh, but it’s so much was easier for me to prove myself,” Penny sniffed.
Crispin stilled.“What?”
