Page 12 of Vanquished By A Viscount
“Which companies do you recommend, my lord?” Lady Winifred asked.
“One must always enjoy oneself when one can,” Gray said, ostensibly to the gentlemen. “One never knows when everythingwill be pulled out from under them and they will be left with nothing at all.”
“I could not say with any certainty where one who wishes to build their fortune and their life upon something as changeable and fast-moving as the railroads should invest,” Charlie answered with too much steel in his voice, “but I can tell you that it is vital to be certain you are investing in companies with character and stability before risking everything.”
“Of course, not everyone is as capable of enjoying themselves while they travel as much as others,” Gray said in an off-hand way behind Charlie. “It takes a man of vivacity who has an open mind and an adventurous spirit to enjoy themselves. Too many men of my acquaintance are stiff and stodgy old sacks who have grown old and decrepit before their time.”
Charlie clenched his jaw and fought with everything he had to ignore Gray as if he were a fly buzzing too close to his ear.
“I would imagine that a man must be supremely adventurous to invest everything they have in such new and untried transportation,” Lady Suzanne said, a mysterious smile on her face. “But it sounds to me as if you are that man, Lord Broxbourne.”
Charlie blinked and tried not to frown. If he didn’t know better, he might have thought Lady Suzanne was commenting upon Gray’s statement as much as his.
Then again, as someone who relied on her sense of hearing to make up for her lack of sight, Lady Suzanne might have been more aware of the larger current of the conversations than anyone else.
“The new South Eastern Railway company has already contracted to build a line from London to Dover,” Charlie said, hoping to keep everyone from straying too far off their paths. “There are several possibilities for branch lines along that routeas well, including discussion of a line leading right here, to Maidstone.”
“Yes, Robert has mentioned something about that, have you not, Robert,” Barbara said, sitting straighter and calling over to the other conversation.
Gray was in the middle of saying, “One never lacks for company on those hot, Spanish nights,” when the invisible barrier between conversations vanished.
“What is that, my darling?” Robert answered his wife, sitting straighter in his chair in mirror to her.
“Charlie, that is, Lord Broxbourne, was just telling us about the South Eastern Railway and its plans to build a branch line up to Maidstone,” Barbara said.
“Ah, yes,” Robert said, glancing to Charlie. “I had hoped to speak with you about that, Broxbourne. I have been contacted by a representative of the Crown about whether we would be amenable to selling a portion of our land so that the railroad might cross it.”
“You have not mentioned any of this to me,” Gray said, shifting both his body and his chair so that the two separate circles of conversation began to blend into one.
“There has not been time,” Robert said, glancing from Gray to Charlie. “I was only just sent a letter about it last week, and preparations for the house party have taken every spare bit of concentration all of us have had.”
“Will the railroad cut through ancient estates?” Lady Winifred asked anxiously.
“Only by permission of the owners of those estates,” Charlie answered, shifting his chair as well. As a result, he moved closer to Gray and rather than being back-to-back, they were nearly side to side facing each other. “And only once the owners are offered a fair price for their land.”
“It stands to reason that a gentleman who wished to make a quick fortune could buy up the land that the railroad plans to traverse so that they could sell it to the Crown at a premium,” one of the gentlemen Charlie had not yet been introduced to said.
“They could,” Gray answered him, much to Charlie’s surprise, “but many of the plans for specific railway routes are being kept secret for just such reasons. And even then, the Crown might not be willing to pay extortionate prices for the land when they can simply go around it by purchasing cheaper land.”
“You seem to know a good deal about this subject, Mr. Hawthorne,” Lady Suzanne said.
“I have been particularly interested in the advancement of the railroads for quite some time, my lady,” Gray explained. “Since university, in fact, though my fascination with all things locomotive persists.”
Charlie caught his breath and his heart sped up. Was Gray still interested in railroads? They had been such new and exciting things when the two of them were together at Cambridge. The two of them had spent as much time visiting prototype engines and attending lectures by men like Isambard Kingdom Brunel as they had exploring each other’s bodies and all the things they could do. It felt somehow incendiary to know that Gray was still interested in those things now.
“I thought you had become more interested in sandy mounds and cheap company than you are in serious investments and the advancement of transportation,” he said, his words clipped and confrontational.
“A man needs to have interests and investments beyond the cold iron of combustion engines and the callousness of cash,” Gray snapped back at him. “We cannot all be bloodless automatons.”
“Anyone who jumps into investments without a thorough knowledge of what they are committing to, or who treats their life and livelihood as ready money to be thrown around on whatever fancy strikes them will end up with nothing in the end,” Charlie fired back.
“Ah, yes,” Gray said mockingly. “So it is all about numbers, advantages, and disadvantages to you. I had guessed that you were as calculating about business matters as you are about other things.”
“And I have already guessed that you are as careless with what you invest yourself in as you are with your words,” Charlie said.
“And doesn’t it just make you see green,” Gray seethed, eyes alight with challenge.
“Oh, look! Greene has made a cake,” Barbara said in lilting, slightly desperate tones, leaping up from her seat and going to meet the footmen who were bringing a large cake to the marquee.
