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“It appears that will have to wait for another time,” Lady Harper told her as she set the teapot on the silver tray. “Now if everyone would take their partners we shall venture to the dining room.”
While the others joined forces I sidled up to Ben’s side and lowered my voice to a whisper. “So are phantoms a real thing in this world?”
He nodded. “Yes. One of those bad uses for magic.”
A thought struck me. “You don’t think that’s what those women saw in the graveyard, do you?”
“The idea had come to mind, but they generally don’t appear in such solid form as what they-”
“Count Castle, Miss Lucas,” Lady Harper scolded us from the open doorway at the right side of the room. I glimpsed a long room with a long dining table in the center. She stepped to one side and swept an arm toward the eating room. “If you would.”
“Of course,” Ben replied as he took up my arm and guided me into the area.
The dining room stretched for some sixty feet and made up the greater portion of the central part of the house. Doorways in each of the walls led to other parts of the house, and I glimpsed an elegant staircase beyond the door opposite where we entered. The table was no less impressive, with clawed feet and thick legs, and a surface that shone like a mirror except where the embroidered cloth ran down the length of it. The seats all had arms and high backs, though those at the ends were larger than the rest.
Placards sat in front of each seat, and Ben and I found ours on either side of the head of the table. I sat on the left of the lord with Ben on the right, and on my other side was seated one of the sisters, Mary.
One of the chairs was noticeably empty, and Lady Harper hesitated to seat herself as her eyes flickered between the seat and her husband. “Darling, Lew isn’t here yet.”
He frowned before he turned his face to the side and caught his butler’s attention. “Fetch Master Lewin.” The butler bowed his head and hurried across the room through the doorway that had piqued my attention earlier. He disappeared up the stairs as the rest of us took our seats.
Mary set a gentle hand on my arm. “What do you do when you’re not visiting our fair city?”
I shrugged. “Oh, I just, um, enjoy myself.”
I really needed to consider making up a cheat sheet for all this lying small talk.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
“Then you have some money yourself?”the duke asked me.
Ben came in for the save. “She has a small endowment from a wealthy relative, but as my guest I prefer to treat her during her time here.”
The duchess sat on his other side and smiled up at him. “How kind of you, Count Castle. Your family was always so generous.”
The duke tried to catch my attention again. “Might I offer some financial advice for any loose money you happen to have? The HOJA is seeking new investors for the area.”
I blinked at him. “The what?”
His wife wagged her napkin at him before she set it on her lap. “None of that kind of talk at the table, my dear, and it means the Halls of Joy Association, dearie. Edwin is the chairman of the group and is always looking for some fresh blood.”
Edwin wrinkled his nose. “You make it sound so mercenary, Ann.”
“At the table all financial talk is mercenary, dear,” she countered with a sly smile.
Marjorie leaned forward to catch everyone’s eyes. “If we can’t talk about finances then might we discuss this new spat of robberies that has the city buzzing? It’s positively dreadful how no one’s been caught. There’s not even a suspect!”
“Do you mean the theft of the valuables from the Highcrests?” Lady Harper wondered.
Marjorie nodded. “The Highcrests, the Loomers, and several less influential families. There are points all over the city where the thefts have taken place.”
“Are we sure there aren’t several groups of thieves?” the lord wondered as he kept one irritated eye on the empty stairs.
“Why do you suspect they are the same group?” our host asked her.
She sat up straight and wrinkled her nose. “Idon’t suspect anything. I heard on good authority that the soldiers themselves suspect it’s the same group. I mean, how could it not be? No sign of forced entry. No foreign magic was detected outside or inside the house. It’s enough to make one wonder if a phantom isn’t running loose!”
A smile slipped onto Ben’s lips. “Then the phantom has good tastes. I have heard fine jewelry has been stolen.”
