I glanced at Professor Nash. He agreed with Oscar and was writing the history chapters for his book. He pushed his glasses up his nose. The light from the crystal chandelier reflected off the lenses and made it seem as though his eyes shone.
After dessert, Mrs. Delancey rose, a signal for the ladies to adjourn to the drawing room. We headed through the door flanked by two potted palm trees and held open by a liveried footman.
The lush tropical theme had been carried into the drawing room for the occasion. Palm trees occupied all the corners, the tips of the fronds brushing the mantel and vine-covered pedestals bearing bowls of pineapples, oranges, peaches, grapes and apples. A large birdcage positioned between armchairs contained two brightly colored parrots—stuffed, of course.
A footman maneuvered between the furniture, a silver platter balanced on his fingertips. He set the tray down on a central table and poured tea into delicate china cups.
"So you are getting married, Louisa," Mrs. Delancey began. "And to a newspaperman, no less." Her disapproval was clear in her tone, there was no need for her to wrinkle her nose too.
Louisa's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Oscar is an interesting man."
"A magician, yes."
Louisa didn't offer up any of Oscar's attributes, of which he had a good number. I liked Oscar, on the whole, although he could be over-zealous in regards to magic sometimes. He was a decent man, handsome and charming. It would seem none of these things were worth mentioning by his fiancée. It was as Matt and I suspected—Louisa was marrying him for his magic.
Mrs. Delancey accepted a teacup from the footman. "Your fortune and his magical connections will make you quite the formidable couple in some circles. We don't have many magicians in the collectors club."
"Oscar isn't invited into the club," Louisa said, lifting the cup to her lips. "Coyle made that perfectly clear to me after the announcement."
"What a shame," Mrs. Delancey muttered without any conviction whatsoever.
Louisa set down her cup and rested her hands on her lap in a languid, elegant motion. She regarded me with her soft blue-gray eyes. It would have been easy to think her sweet, with such gentility seeming to run through her veins, but I knew her to be sharp and, at times, selfish.
"India, tell us about your work with Fabian," she said.
"There's nothing to tell. We're still learning."
"You must keep us informed of your progress."
"You ought to ask Mr. Charbonneau, Louisa, not India," Mrs. Delancey said. "I'm sure he'll be more forthcoming, given your long-standing friendship."
Louisa's fingers curled into fists, but her face didn't lose its smooth calmness. "Fabian and I are not that close. Acquaintances, nothing more."
They had been friends, but that friendship had withered when Louisa asked Fabian to marry her, and he'd refused.
I didn't feel any sympathy for her, then or now. She had asked him to marry her because he was a magician. After his rejection, she'd turned her attentions to Gabriel Seaford, the doctor magician who'd saved Matt's life, only to be thwarted when we warned him about her. Matt and I had decided to inform Oscar of Louisa's prior marital interests tonight so that he could go into the relationship with his eyes open. We couldn't withhold something so important from him.
I glanced at the door, wondering if Matt had managed to speak to Oscar alone. He'd promised he'd try, but given the cool nature of their acquaintance, I wasn't sure he'd try very hard.
We endured awkward conversation for a long twenty minutes until the gentlemen finally joined us. I knew instantly from Oscar's face that Matt had found a way to broach the subject of Louisa. The signs were so subtle that I doubted Louisa noticed, but I'd been looking and I saw the hardened jaw, the slight pursing of the lips, and the way in which he did not immediately go to his fiancée's side until she put out her hand in summons.
I wasn't the only one who noticed the change in Oscar. Lord Coyle did too, going by the way he watched them from beneath pendulous eyelids.
The rest of the evening was blessedly short. Once Louisa became aware of Oscar's moroseness, she lost her appetite for conversation, even when it centered on magic. They were the first to take their leave, and Matt took the opportunity to suggest we depart too.
Lord Coyle left with us. "What did you say to Barratt?" he asked Matt as we made our way down the front steps of the Delanceys’ townhouse.
"That's none of your business," Matt said oh-so casually.
Lord Coyle grunted.
Our carriage rolled up and a Delancey footman opened the door for me. "Is there something else, Coyle?" Matt asked as he assisted me up the step into the cabin.
"I wanted to ask Mrs. Glass if she has considered my proposal any further. It has been a week since we last spoke of it." He turned his gaze to me. "I don't think I need to remind you that you owe me, Mrs. Glass, and that convincing Hope to accept my marriage proposal will absolve you of the debt."
"It's not a debt," Matt snapped. "You forced her into an impossible position."
Lord Coyle ignored Matt. "Mrs. Glass?"
"I haven't seen Hope all week," I said.
"Call on her tomorrow. I expect an answer in two weeks."
"You can't expect a young woman to make up her mind about something this important in two weeks!"
"Hope Glass isn't a silly girl. I'd wager she has already made up her mind and is just delaying."
"Why would she do that?" Matt asked.
"To make it seem as though she can't make up her mind. I may never have been married, but I do know how young women like to be the center of attention."
I rolled my eyes but he might not have seen it in the dim glow of the street light.
Lord Coyle touched the brim of his hat. "Good evening, Mrs. Glass."
"One more thing," Matt said, squaring up to Coyle. My blood ran cold. He was going to confront his lordship, even though I'd asked him not to. "We received a letter from Lord Cox stating that his half-brother found out the truth. Why did you tell him?"
"I didn't." Despite his denial, he showed no surprise at the news.
"It was unfair—cruel, even. Cox is a good man. He has children, for God's sake. They don't deserve the stigma that will be placed on them when Cox's illegitimacy becomes public."
"The half-brother hasn't made it public. Perhaps he won't pursue the matter." Lord Coyle stabbed the end of his walking stick onto the pavement.
"If you didn't inform him then who did?" I asked. "It wasn't me."
"It could have been any number of people who knew about the first marriage. Servants, a midwife, old neighbors, the vicar, the vicar's wife. A secret like that is impossible to keep forever."
"What will happen now?" I asked quietly.
"That will be up to the half-brother. You've received no more correspondence from Lord or Lady Cox?"
I shook my head.
"Then we shall wait with baited breath." He tapped his walking stick on Matt's leg. "Go home with your wife, Glass. It's late and my conveyance is waiting."
Matt climbed in and sat beside me. He closed the door and the carriage moved forward with a jerk as Sir Charles and Professor Nash came down the front steps.