Page 26 of The Scholar's Key
“Lady Percy,” he said, standing, a slight flare of his nostrils telling her that he was surprised to see her. “What brings you here?”
“I was hoping to speak to you privately,” she said, and he nodded.
“Of course. Thank you, Sampson,” he said to the butler, before gesturing to a seat in front of the desk. “Mary, would you like to sit?” he asked her maid, gesturing to a corner chair, surprising Percy, for no one ever spoke to her maid.
“Actually, Mary,” she murmured as she turned, “would you mind waiting in the corridor?”
“Of course, my lady,” Mary said, although Percy didn’t miss her suspicious glance toward Noah. Apparently, her privacy would be at the expense of gossip.
When the door shut behind her, it seemed as though all of the air was sucked out with it, as suddenly Percy, who spoke far more than anyone ever should, was bereft of anything to say.
“Please, sit,” Noah said again, and Percy did, pleased when he took the chair beside hers instead of the one across the desk.
“How long have you been here at this home?” she asked, actually interested in learning more about his work.
“A few days here,” he said. “Always the mornings and usually the afternoons as well, although I make exceptions now and again.”
“Like yesterday?” she asked, annoyed by the flicker of pleasure that licked at her at the thought that he had seen visiting her important enough to break his work.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“When are you visiting the Queen’s Hand?” she asked.
“Likely tonight,” he said, shifting back and forth in his chair, signalling that he was not, perhaps, as eager to take on this role as he tried to make out that he was.
“Do you feel that you are prepared?” she asked, secretly hoping that he would tell her that he was, thanks to her efforts yesterday.
“I hope so,” was all he said, as he tapped a finger against his lips.
“Aha,” she said, lifting a finger. “That is where you go wrong.”
“I am not prepared?”
“No, you must nothopethat you are prepared. You say that youareprepared. You must be confident.”
“Very well. I am prepared.”
“That lacked conviction.”
He rubbed his brow. “I am doing the best that I can.”
She noted his exasperation, and sat back, slightly subdued now. “I know. I do apologize.”
“So what brings you here?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, although she noticed that their knees were not far apart from where they sat side by side.
It was a good question. What had brought her here? She wasn’t sure that she could rightly answer that. She had been agitated when she considered all that he would encounter at the nightclub.
“What do you intend to do with Mrs. MacNall?”
“Pardon me?”
“If you return to her home… what will you do with her?”
He folded his arms across his chest, and she thought she just might detect the slightest of smirks growing on his face.
“Why, Percy, do you care what I do?”
“Of course,” she said. “I would not like you to compromise your… integrity.”
