A Gentleman's Position (Society of Gentlemen) (13 page)

Francis glowered. “It’s your accursed brother’s fault. Are Harry and Julius not here?”

“Harry has taken lodgings in Great Ryder Street,” Dominic reminded him.

“Yes, I know. We told them to meet us here.”

“Feel free to use my house as your own,” Richard said. “What is going on?”

The door opened again, without ceremony, revealing Harry and Julius looking as tense as the others. “Richard, thank God you’re back,” Harry said. “Uh, that is, good afternoon.”

Dominic shot Richard a look. “Are you worried yet?”

“Yes. Will someone please enlighten us?”

Julius came over with the quick, firm tread that suggested he was too on edge to be languid, and sat on the desk since there were not enough chairs. “Welcome home, Richard. Did you woo Cyprian successfully?”

“I beg your pardon?” Richard said with stifled incredulity.

“He’s not returned? Curse it. We could use an intelligent man now. Have you told them, Ash?”

Dominic made an exasperated noise. “If someone doesn’t explain
very shortly
…”

All the others looked at Ash. Francis hooked a footstool with his ankle, dragged it over, and pushed his lover down onto it. “Speak.”

“What it is, you see— I wrote to Francis.” Ash was staring at the floor. “At Christmas. I was at Warminster Hall for a week, with my family. Including Maltravers. God, it was dismal, and I was bored, and…I wrote a letter.”

“Which I did not receive,” Francis said. “A fact of which neither of us was aware—I didn’t know; Gabriel didn’t think. He mentioned it to me some few days back, and we were, of course, highly concerned that it had gone astray. But you had just divested yourself of Cyprian, and after so long, we hoped that the damned thing had been lost in the post. We are not so fortunate.”

“What was in the letter?” Richard asked.

“I, uh. It was pretty ripe stuff.” Ash was scarlet. “I, uh…”

“It would serve very well as evidence in a prosecution for sodomy,” Francis said, voice flat. “Gabriel wrote about a night we spent before he left for Warminster, with detailed reference to our first evening together. A memoir of buggery running to some four pages of his unique handwriting.” He brushed a finger across Ash’s scalp. “I rather wish I’d read it.”

“I wish you had it,” Dominic said. “Hell and the devil himself.
Ash.
”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“You so rarely do,” Julius said. “Now tell Richard who has the letter.”

“I put it out to be posted,” Ash mumbled. “At the Hall. I, uh…Mal took it off the table.”

Richard stared. “You cannot be serious. He did
what
?”

“Lord Maltravers saw a sealed private letter, plucked it off the table, and made himself at home with its contents,” Francis said. “The toad.”

Richard was almost speechless. “That is a damned disgrace. That is appalling.”

“It is a weapon,” Julius said. “This gets a great deal worse, Richard. Maltravers loathes Francis, but even he would probably rather not see his brother in the dock accused of playing at all fours. And if Maltravers did bring a prosecution and both Ash and Francis denied it all, claimed it was some fantasy of Ash’s, Maltravers would ruin his brother, at great cost to his family name, but Francis might escape relatively unscathed.”

“Is that not good? What are you getting at?”

“Maltravers wants to use it,” Harry said. “Against Silas and me.”

Dominic went rigid. Richard could see the white creases down the sides of his nose that betrayed his anger, but his voice was level as he repeated, “Silas.”

“And, indeed, Harry,” Julius said. “They are both in this to their eminently stretchable necks.”

“Explain,” Richard said. “Now. What has Maltravers said, and what does he want?”

“He spoke to Gabriel yesterday,” Francis said. “He expressed a magnanimous readiness not to prosecute. In return, all of you must retract your testimony about the night of the Cato Street Conspiracy.”

“What?”
Richard and Dominic said together.

Richard, Ash, and Julius had lied through their teeth, at David’s direction, to keep Mason from prosecution as part of an ill-fated plot to murder the entire British cabinet. He had been part of the conspirators’ group until the day before the planned outrage, and a constable had seen him on Cato Street that night. The Ricardians had given him a false alibi for the afternoon and evening to save his skin. As it happened, he had not been at Cato Street earlier because he had been in bed with Dominic, but that was scarcely something to be offered in evidence.

If Mason were tried, and Richard and the others did not repeat the alibi, Mason’s conviction for high treason would be inevitable.

“How does Maltravers know about that?” Richard asked.

“I expect through Skelton, the Home Office man to whom you all lied so efficiently,” Dominic said. “He’s Maltravers’s protégé, if you recall.”

“He was there.” Ash’s voice shook. “Mal told me he had that accursed letter and shouted at me until I felt like a worm, and then he said he’d tell me what was wanted and went off and brought Skelton in. He was very polite, he kept saying that we’d been ‘mistaken’ or ‘confused,’ but of course he meant lying. He didn’t talk about the letter at all. He just said that Mal was going to prosecute Mason for his part in the conspiracy and he wanted to know we wouldn’t argue it in court. He said there would be no reason for the ‘misunderstanding’ to come up, as long as none of us challenge the evidence against Mason.”

“Or to put it another way,” Julius said, “if any of us makes trouble, Skelton will proclaim to a crowded courtroom that we lied to protect a man from a charge of high treason. And Maltravers may bring a prosecution for sodomy against Ash and Francis.”

Richard put a hand to Dominic’s arm, feeling his tension. “Does Maltravers believe we’ll just let Mason be hanged?”

“He thinks he’s guilty,” Ash said. “Or perhaps he doesn’t care. He said you can all decide if you would rather protect a seditionist or a sodomite.”

“I thought Mason was both. Actually, I am unclear on
what
Mason is,” Francis said. “He was not in fact a conspirator? Not guilty of this?”

“Not as such, but a radical of the worst kind and involved in the group,” Julius said. “We can’t let him stand his trial and see how the dice fall if that is what you’re thinking. There is no doubt that he could be successfully prosecuted for conspiracy to murder and treason. All that prevents it is that we lied about his whereabouts.”

“He wouldn’t stand a chance,” Dominic said. “The trial is due to start in the middle of this month, and Adams, one of the conspirators, has turned king’s evidence. He can testify that Silas was part of the group almost to the end.”

“Can he can say enough to hang Mason?”

“I don’t know,” Dominic said. “Silas will. Let’s ask him.”

“Wait,” Francis said. “I don’t want to say this—”

“Then don’t.” Dominic’s tone held a warning. “You and I have been friends for a long time, Francis. Don’t say anything that would destroy that.”

“Gabriel could stand in the pillory if Maltravers prosecutes, at the least,” Francis said doggedly. “Men are killed that way. If Mason
was
implicated, do you truly propose to preserve him at the cost of Gabriel’s skin?”

“It’s not— Sit down, Dominic; I’m speaking. It’s not as simple as throwing either Mason or Ash to the lions,” Julius said as Richard put a restraining hand to Dominic’s arm. “If Mason is convicted of high treason, it will destroy Harry, who was his assistant for so long. Richard is Mason’s employer, and I paid his bail. Hanging Mason will hit us all hard. But—I am
still speaking,
Francis—but if Ash’s letter becomes public knowledge, do any of you believe we can all survive the scrutiny? How hard would anyone have to look? This is not a choice between two sacrifices. Whatever happens, a number of us are, if I may use the military term, fucked.”

“Then what the devil do we do?” Harry asked. “I don’t care if everyone finds out about my past—”

“Cirencester will,” Richard interrupted. The futures unfolding before him were appalling. It was impossible to think which would be worse, the little set that bore his name becoming known as a pack of sodomites or the stain of high treason attached to his household. His brother’s wrath would be terrible and entirely justified. “Dominic, explain to me. Why does Maltravers want Mason prosecuted?”

“Because he’s Jack Cade,” Dominic said. He and Francis were watching each other like cats. “The illegal pamphleteer. If Skelton can put that across in court, even if Silas doesn’t hang, he could be transported. He has one conviction for seditious libel already.”

“You are not serious,” Francis said. “In God’s name, Dominic—”

“Yes, I’ve gone mad, that’s been well established,” Dominic snapped.

“On the contrary,” Richard said. “Dominic knows his own business best, Mason is a good man, and we will have no further argument on that subject.” That got startled looks from everyone, Dominic most of all. “But this whole business cannot simply be Maltravers helping Skelton to net an elusive quarry.”

“No, it is more,” Dominic said, recovering his composure. “The Cato Street accused are a pack of malcontents and madmen. But if Jack Cade is added to their number, that links the radical scribblers to the would-be murderers. Maltravers is tired of waiting to step into his father’s shoes. Skelton is ambitious. If they can produce a wide-ranging radical conspiracy during an election, Skelton can be sure of promotion, and Maltravers will make himself look a hero, claim a government position, and hit at us all at once.”

“Indeed,” Francis said. “I suppose Gabriel should gladly embrace the pillory or the gallows to avoid such an outcome.”

Richard lifted a hand to prevent Dominic from responding. “Very well, I have it now. Ash, do you think Maltravers knows, or suspects, about us all?”

“I don’t think so. If he did, he would have gone straight to Bow Street,” Ash told the floor. “He said…horrible things to me, and one of them was how you would all turn your backs on me when you found out. He went on and on about that, about how I’d be disgraced and despised—”

Harry leaned over and put a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “We’re with you. We all are. We won’t give you up. Or Silas either,” he added with a quick glance at Dominic.

“We will give up neither,” Richard said. “None of this can be allowed to happen. The consequences are unacceptable.”

“Yes, well, that sounds very impressive,” Julius said. “How will we avoid it?”

“I don’t know yet. Get Mason.”

The radical was duly summoned. He slouched in, looking around with an expression of mild surprise at the assembled gentlemen. “Evening.”

As Dominic outlined the problem, Richard watched the faces around him. Mason looked steadily grimmer. Ash had his head in his hands; Francis stood by him, a hand on his shoulder. Francis was a rich and ruthless man with no love for radicals; he would not allow harm to come to Ash even if it brought him Dominic’s enmity. Richard did not want it to come to a battle between them.

This was going to rip them apart before their ruin if he could not find a way through.

“So that’s it,” Dominic concluded. “Thoughts?”

“Well.” Mason shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’d say I’d best bugger off, except that leaves Harry in trouble.”

“Very much so,” Julius said. “Flight is an admission of guilt.”

“I could come to France with you,” Harry suggested. Silas gave him a scathing look. “Why not? I speak French, which is more than you do.”

Julius snorted. “He barely speaks English, but I have no intention of going to France, so you are not doing any such thing.”

“A pack of us can’t flee the country together. That would be as absurd as disastrous,” Dominic agreed. “That said—Ash, if you agreed to Maltravers’s demands but Silas and Harry left the country before arrest, would your brother keep his bargain and not prosecute you?”

“Who’s to say he’ll do that anyway?” Julius asked. “With all due respect to his lordship, he’s a thieving, blackmailing turd. Why should he not be a liar? Does anyone here trust his word?”

“That’s a good point,” Harry said. “At the very least, Ash would need to get the letter back from him before doing anything.”

“I doubt he’d give that weapon up,” Francis said. “How can Gabriel make him? He holds all the cards.”

“What about getting the letter back anyway?” Mason asked.

“How would you propose doing that?”

Mason shrugged. “Steal it?”

There was a short silence.

“I like it,” Francis said. “Is it possible? Are you a thief?”

Dominic gave him a thunderous look. Mason rolled his eyes. “I’m a bookseller.”

“Yes, well, that’s the problem,” Julius said. “We can’t bring in a thief and request him to find this damned thing without exposing ourselves to further blackmail. None of us have admittance to Maltravers’s house; Ash is not welcome there—”

“Cyprian,” Dominic said. “He knows everything already. I’ll wager Cyprian could do it.”

Ash nodded frantically. Mason said, “He’s the man I’d ask, but he ain’t here.”

“Quite,” Julius said. “He no longer works for Richard. Does he?”

He did not, and Richard couldn’t imagine how David would react to being asked to do so now. “I can’t ask him that.”

“For God’s sake, you had him spirit this fellow off the scaffold. You can tell him to find a letter,” Francis said with impatience. “Unless you have any better ideas?”

“I cannot go back to him now and inform him his services are required.” Richard’s jaw ached with tension. “I am no longer on those terms with him.”

“He’s a valet. What possible terms does he need? Double his salary.”

Richard looked at Dominic. He was looking at Mason in intense silent communication, and Richard glanced from them to Ash, wretchedly huddled on the footstool, and then at Harry’s hunched shoulders. Harry had looked like that when Richard had plucked him, ragged and wary, from Mason’s political bookshop a year ago. All of them were afraid.

Richard did not want to ask David’s help now, felt sick considering how he might respond, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do.