with him at my club. In hindsight, it was like inviting a wolf into the sheep's pen. I took a sip of red wine and apprehensively looked around at the parties of men who were also dining. I noted that there were politicians, aristocracy, and members of the establishment, all of whom who would be rich pickings for a light-fingered man like Cavell. What had I done introducing him to my place of safety?
The Coffee House restaurant had a set daily menu and so like boys in the refectory at school, we ate what we were given. A cluster of men laughed raucously and paranoia made my heart judder. I looked up and they glanced in my direction, one man whispered in another’s ear and my first worry was that they were sharing a joke at my expense and laughing at me. My eyes met those of the American, Lawrence Blake. I saw with alarm that he had peculiar heterochromatic eyes, one cerulean blue, the other so dark brown it appeared black. Those eyes pinned me and I inhaled sharply, not only because of the unflinching look he shot my way, but because the young man sitting to his left gazing at Blake as if he was sprinkled with stardust, was none other than Baron Leopold Freiherr Von Leibenstein.
“Are you quite well? You’re looking rather pasty, old bean!” Cavell asked with concern. I mopped my brow with my napkin and took a long draught of iced water.
“I do not dine publically often, and rarely with strangers. I’m finding this quite the challenge.” I admitted. Cavell’s brows knitted at hearing my explanation.
“Oh, come now dear heart. We’re hardly strangers, are we?” Cavell sat languidly in his chair and winked at me. I felt heat rise as if I were a youth in the first flush of romance, I tightened my jaw. I did not appreciate his mocking tone. Sebastian appeared to note the unmanning effects of my discomfort and then, in a softer voice said,
“Apologies, Benedict. I did not know that your inquietude was the cause of such distress. Is it the fact we are dining in public or is it me in particular that is making you so… distracted?”
I did not want to be rude but my first thought was a gruff and angry response, which I repressed. Was it not obvious as to why I was nervous? I was dining with a man who had unleashed a reign of terror against the aristocracy, pilfering their prized possessions in the most daring robberies imaginable. His questioning did not help matters.
“I would rather we did not discuss this,” I said sternly, and then awkwardly I added.
“Forgive me if I am presumptuous, but I’ve reserved a room for…later… we can talk then, yes?”
Sebastian’s grin became wolfish and self-satisfied. He leaned his elbows on the table, which was terribly bad manners, and placed his chin resting on clasped hands. In a low, devilish voice he said,
“Let us converse about other subjects then, my friend. What would you like to discuss?”
I bit my lip and diverted my gaze. I could not look him in the eye when he spoke to me like that.
I leaned forward, “Well, for a start… do not turn around!” I said quietly.
Cavell furrowed his brow. “That boy you are looking for is dining at the far table.”
“What! Are you sure?” Cavell asked in an excited whisper.
“Yes, it comes to me now. This where I saw him before Christmas, dining with Benjamin Cavendish, if I’m not mistaken.” I did not know much about Cavendish other than he was a Tory Member of Parliament, was in his mid-thirties, and had married into wealth.
“Who is the Baron dining with today?”
I took another inconspicuous glance over Sebastian’s shoulder. Including Leopold, there were a total of four men together,
“The American, Lawrence Blake, Cavendish and, yes, that’s Lord Arthur Spencer!”
“Who is this Blake fellow?”
“I had no idea until this evening. He is an American theosophist, quite famous apparently. He garnered quite the crowd earlier, spouting all kinds of utter nonsense about the body as a vessel for the spirit.” I said smugly.
Sebastian sent me an unnerved look, then he pushed his napkin off his lap and onto the floor and sighed a self-deprecating, “Oh you silly Billy!” then pushed his chair out from the table and bent down to retrieve the napkin. I saw how he took a sly look behind at the dining party. When he straightened I noted that it was Sebastian’s turn to