Page 76 of From the Ashes
"You're a prick," Gus told him.
"Confine your dalliances to the widows," I said. "Don't go ruining any poor debutants."
"Poor debutants! You should have seen Miss Yardly. Practically had to break her fingers to pry them off me. She accosted me in the hallway when I went to use the privy and touched me in places that offended my delicate sensibilities. There's nothing innocent about her."
Gus snorted a laugh.
"Did you manage to speak to Buchanan about his movements on the day in question?" Lincoln asked. "Or were you too busy gossiping and fighting off ardent admirers?"
Seth smirked. "I did, as it happens, when we retreated to the billiards room. Through charm and the liberal application of alcohol, I managed to get out of him that he'd risen late from his mistress's bed, then gone home to freshen up, only to find his brother visiting. If Harcourt hadn't arrived in London that day, I doubt Buchanan would have recalled where he'd been or what he'd been doing. Apparently they fought over the younger brother's dissolute habits, then went their separate ways. Harcourt stormed out of the house, but Buchanan doesn't know where he went. Buchanan, meanwhile, made himself agreeable to The Honorable Jane Stebney-Green. He's in need of a wealthy wife and she happens to be an heiress and available, albeit a quiet girl, not at all his type."
"How did he make himself agreeable to her?" I asked.
"By following her about as she shopped, made calls, and so on. Apparently he happened to bump into her and her mother on no less than three occasions that day."
"Don't sound so agreeable to me," Gus muttered. "More like a cough that can't be shook off."
"Someone ought to warn her about him," I said.
"No need," Seth said. "His methods didn't work. She has since told him in no uncertain terms what she thought of him and is now being courted by a far more upstanding gentleman."
"Good for her."
"Amen. Fortunately for me, too, or Mother would see that I make myself agreeable to her."
"His story will be easy enough to verify with her maid," Lincoln said.
Seth pressed his hand to his heart. "It will be an honor to be assigned the task of interrogating the maid."
Lincoln nodded.
Gus stretched out on the rug in front of the fire and rolled his eyes. "You're a toss pot."
"But a toss pot who finds out things, like Harcourt's involvement with St. Bartholomew's Hospital." Seth downed the contents of his glass and set it on the table. "I mentioned Barts in a passing comment about Gus's aunt's health, and asked Buchanan if he knew any good doctors there. He claimed to know nothing about the institution, but said his brother does. Apparently Harcourt donates to research there."
"Which department?"
"Buchanan didn't know. The latest medical breakthroughs, is how he put it. He followed it up with a snide comment about his brother's excessive spending on strangers when he had family practically starving on his doorstep."
I laughed. "Buchanan's likening himself to a starving waif, now? The man is incorrigible."
"I'll look into it," Lincoln said.
"Right." Seth pushed himself out of the chair, wobbled a little, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm going to bed."
"Not yet," Lincoln said, and Seth plopped back down into the armchair. "There's been a development that you both need to be aware of."
"We know the committee were here," Gus said. "Cook already told us."
"That's not all of it." I glanced at Lincoln. He nodded at me to go on.
"You two have patched things up?" Seth asked us with a hopeful smile.
I cleared my throat. "Lincoln has resigned from the ministry."
"Um…what?"
Gus sat up. "Bloody hell! What'd you go and do that for?"
