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Duchess’s fan.
    “Yes. Yes, precisely my thoughts, and what Sir Gilbert and I had discussed prior to coming here,” Lord Cobham lied through his teeth. “Isn’t that so, Parsons?”
    “Was it? Ah! Yes!” agreed his minion, nodding vigorously. “Precisely my thoughts on how we should approach the problem upon reaching the Midanich Court. Halsey here—”
    “ Lord Halsey,” Plantagenet Halsey cut in.
    “Er, yes, forgive me. Lord Halsey and I will present our credentials and I will open trade negotiations with Margrave Ernst in the hopes that through these diplomatic efforts we shall secure the release of those two good people,” Sir Gilbert explained. “And while I am in these negotiations, Lord Halsey is free to pursue alternative avenues that may need to be applied to free His Majesty’s subjects from a foreign prison, should dialogue between our nations prove less than satisfactory.”
    “You are a diplomat after all, Parsons!” Plantagenet Halsey declared, but it was not meant as a compliment. “What you mean is, while you sit on your rump sipping coffee and offering your respects to a Continental tyrant, my nephew will be riskin’ life and limb by breakin’ in to a dank dark dungeon?”
    “Oh, it’s not that dark, Uncle,” Alec quipped. “But it is dank. But you needn’t worry I am required to storm a dungeon. Cosmo has been accorded a room in the palace complex. So at the very most I may have to bust down a door!”
    “And Emily, where is her room? Is it near Cosmo’s?” the Duchess asked anxiously. “Does Mrs. Carlisle have a separate room, or is she quartered with Emily?”
    “What of this ransom?” Alec asked, again ignoring the Duchess’ direct question and hoping to divert her before he would be forced to lie to her outright. He asked after the British Consul’s ransom demand. “What does Mr. Luytens’ letter command as a ransom?”
    “No need for you to concern yourself with that for the time being, my boy,” the Duchess told him, suddenly making movements to leave, flouncing out her silk petticoats and letting her fan dangle on its silken cord about her wrist so she could draw on her kid gloves. “Cobham and I are putting our heads together to sort out what is needed. You have a great deal of preparation to do before we leave for Midanich, and this is at least one matter I can take care of and not bother you with the minor details.” She put out her crooked arm to Lord Cobham. “Come along, Clive. Your dear wife is waiting for us to dine and—”
    “But I’m expected at my club. I have to—”
    “That can wait. This cannot.”
    Lord Cobham instantly capitulated. The only sign of his frustration was in the way he snatched his walking stick from the footman with a loud sniff. He obediently gave the crook of his arm to his aunt, bowed silently to the room and escorted her to the waiting carriage. Sir Gilbert was left to wait in the vestibule while a junior footman ran to the top of the street to secure him a sedan chair.
    Alec had not insisted he be shown Luytens’ letter, though he found it odd in the extreme that the Duchess did not want to discuss the ransom with him, least of all show him the letter. He was just glad to see his godmother finally take her leave so that he need not deflect more questions regarding Emily, and because he was eager to get on with the hundred and one matters which required his attention before setting sail. But just as he was about to excuse himself and go in search of his valet, his godmother’s words struck him and he regarded his uncle with a puzzled frown.
    “What did Olivia mean we ?” he asked. “Just now she said I had a great deal of preparation to do before we leave for Midanich.”
    “We do,” his uncle said matter-of-factly. “So much so I wish Tam were here to help me, or at the very least mix up some more of that lotion he concocts to help m’arthritis, so I can take it with me.”
    Alec was not to be diverted. “What