“My suggestion is, send the valet on a long-extended holiday to recover his health and stick with the footman.” Cambridge gave him a steady look.
He was the recipient of a few of them lately, and he was not sure why.
“Release him!” Lord Sinclair roared. “I could do with a laugh.”
“First, we need a recap!” someone called.
“Oh, very well,” Dimity said, moving to stand below Cambridge.
“Careful he does not roll over you,” Gabe said.
“Lady Nauticus, Captain Broadbent, and Cerise are in Faiyum in Egypt, the ancient city of Crocodilopolis.”
“I say,” Monty said. “Don’t the inhabitants worship a sacred crocodile named Pegasus?”
“That’s the flying horse, Plunge,” the Duke of Raven said. “The crocodile is called Petsuchos.”
“Is it really?” Monty said with a wide-eyed look that had several people moaning about how brainless he was.
“If I may continue?” Dimity snapped.
Monty bowed grandly.
“Captain Broadbent was struggling with flagging spirits due to the heat, so Cerise sent Lady Nauticus to get water to revive him,” Dimity continued.
“He’s really something of a weak-kneed, sniveling individual, don’t you think?” Lady Levermarch said.
There were gasps of disapproval, boos, and some agreements to this harsh statement.
“There was also a herd of dorcas gazelle bearing down on them. Plunge was relieved they were not lappet-faced vultures,” Dimity said.
Monty waved a handkerchief at the mention of his name.
“We all sang. And then Mary fell into the water,” Dimity added.
Monty watched Zach’s lips draw into a straight line at the memory of the woman he loved falling into the icy depths. He searched for Iris again and saw her former brother-in-law standing behind her. Clearly, she wasn’t aware he was there, as she was smiling.
“I say, dear Lady Challoner, my childhood friend, come closer to immerse yourself in your first literary saloon!” He waved a hand to her, and reluctantly, she did as he asked.
Renton’s face twisted into a snarl. He wanted Iris. That much was clear to Monty’s mind, but there was something else to the man’s behavior. Desperation, he thought. Something isn’t right. His bet was that it had to do with the papers he now had in his possession.
“I don’t want to stand here,” Iris whispered when she reached him.
“Well, my dear, by all means retreat. Your former brother-in-law is waiting for you,” Monty said.
Her eyes shot to Renton and then back to Monty.
“I am not your concern,” Iris whispered.
“Whose concern are you, then? Your elderly aunt and uncle, perhaps? Henry’s?”
“I think I prefer you as that fool, Plunge,” she muttered.
“A simple thank-you will do,” he said.
Her eyes went to Renton and then away again, but she said nothing further.
“And now we are caught up,” Dimity said. “You have the floor, or barrel, Cambridge.”
