Page 48 of Beyond the Grave
"What time?" Lincoln asked.
He was agreeing?
"Eight-thirty. We'll dine at nine." Her skirts rustled, and I dashed across the entrance hall and slipped into the corridor leading to the service area.
I waited until her coach drove off then intercepted Lincoln when he returned inside. He didn't seem surprised to see me. "She's up to something," I said. "I could hear it in her voice."
"I know." He went to walk off, but I caught his arm.
"If you think she has an ulterior motive for inviting you to dinner, then why are you going?"
He looked at me like I was a fool. "To find out what that motive is."
"Oh. Yes. I suppose." I let him go. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"I don't know." He headed up the stairs, but not before I saw his lips twitch at the corners. "Devious methods of gathering information are usually your specialty."
Chapter 9
Iawokeat dawn the following morning, but Lincoln was already in the kitchen when I went down, cooking bacon and eggs. The man required very little sleep. I'd not heard him return after dinner, but I'd still been so tired from the night I'd missed sleep altogether, that I slept soundly.
"Are you going to eat all of that yourself?" I asked, peering past him to the five rashers of bacon sizzling in the pan and the three boiling eggs.
"Not anymore."
I fetched another plate and eggcup then allowed him to serve me. I chose the side of the table closest to the warm range and he sat on the other. He didn't seem to feel the cold. When I'd first met him, he'd seemed more machine than human, with his lack of emotion and few needs, and sometimes I still felt as if I didn't know the man behind the mask. At least I now knew he wore a mask most of the time.
"How was the dinner?" I asked.
"Adequate. Cook's a better cook."
"You should tell him that. It would mean a lot to him."
He considered this a moment then nodded.
"I was actually referring to the conversational aspect of dinner. Did you get an opportunity to ask Lord Harcourt whether Buchanan arrived at Emberly Park?"
"No. I wasn't seated near him at dinner and he avoided me afterward."
"But you were the only two gentlemen there. Weren't you alone with him in the billiard room?"
He shook his head as he cut through a bacon rasher. "Another two were invited to make up numbers."
"But you were already two gentlemen and two ladies, an even, if somewhat small, number."
"Four ladies, four gentlemen. Julia invited the Overtons—Mr. Mrs. and Miss—and an elderly fellow by the name of Matthews."
I'd been slicing off the top of my egg, but his news caused my hand to slip. The egg and cup toppled over, spilling gooey yolk on the table. I quickly righted the cup, stuffed the egg back into it, and reached for a cloth to mop up the yolk.
Lincoln watched me from beneath long, thick lashes. "I was as surprised as you are. Julia didn't warn me."
Probably because she knew he'd refuse to go. "She seems very keen for you and Miss Overton to…become better acquainted."
"I noticed."
"And did you become better acquainted last night?"
"No."
