The Earl and Countess of Sydenham had not once visited the Woodville children after their parents’ deaths.
There ensued a lull.
“Are you in some kind of trouble, dear?” the countess prompted.
Which was a polite way of asking her what the devil she was doing in their foyer.
Ginny pulled in a long, courage-bolstering breath. “I have urgent need of counsel on a particular matter. I could notthink of another friend in London to whom I could turn. Otherwise I wouldneverintrude upon you without sending a letter first. Nor would I ever come alone. I feel rather at odds right now.”
She wanted them to know that she at least knewhowto behave like a lady, even if she wasn’t doing it now. She owed that much to her parents, particularly her mother.
The earl and countess exchanged a glance.
“Well, do come through into the drawing room, my dear.” The countess at least sounded kind. “We’ll have a chat.”
In the drawing room a few steps away, a leaping fire picked out the glints of gold leaf and ormolu. Velvet was everywhere.
Ginny settled onto a crimson settee opposite the Sydenhams.
She considered where to begin. She decided it was best to get straight to the point. “I wondered if you had seen my brother lately, Lord Sydenham.”
“Why, is he missing?” the earl smoothly replied, just as his wife exclaimed, “You just saw him at Lucifer’s Fall, didn’t you, dear?”
The earl pressed his lips tightly together.
Against a curse word, if Ginny had to guess. She knew the look.
The countess placed a gloved hand delicately over her lips at her faux pas.
A tense silence followed.
Apparently, the earl didn’t believe Lucifer’s Fall’s little rule about protecting the privacy of members extended to wives.
“I believe Hogarth lost a very good deal of money to you at Lucifer’s Fall, Lord Sydenham,” Ginny pressed on.
The earl sighed. “Well, he did, indeed,” the earl decided to confirm with matter-of-fact cheer, since they all knew about it. “It was averylucky night for me.”
Ginny’s heart was pounding sickeningly now. She prayed to every god she could think of for the strength to say what she needed to say next.
“In honor of your friendship with my parents, I wondered if you would consider tearing up his vowels and canceling his debt.”
She was both horrified and thrilled to have gotten the words out. It felt utterly brazen.
They echoed in her ears like a gong clash.
The silence that followed was surely the longest and most awkward in English history so far.
A bead of sweat slid from her neck into her cleavage as the earl and countess regarded her in wary amazement.
“You’d... like me to just... forget... the debt?” The earl issued all of these words gingerly. As if giving Ginny an opportunity to apologize or explain away this latest hideous social transgression.
She was nauseous with shame and nerves. “Yes.”
His eyebrows dove into a frown for a full five seconds. Suddenly, all at once, his expression cleared. “But that’s not how it works, my dear.” His relieved tone suggested he’d thought about it and concluded she was just misguided or naive, not soft in the head. “Winningmoneyis thepointof five-card loo. It’s why it’s worth playing at all. It’s what we pay the exorbitant membership fees at Lucifer’s Fall in order to do. I spent a good deal of money playing in order to make a good deal of money. Your brother seemed to really be enjoying himself,and I could not deny him the chance to play against me for old time’s sake.”
I’ll just bet you couldn’t, Ginny thought.
“But you see, Hogarth did not mean to get so carried away.” She tried to keep her tone bright, even though there was a peculiar ringing in her ears.
