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all."
    "Yet your blackmailer claimed that we were both on his list of victims?"
    "Yes. Rather odd, don't you think?"
    "I find this entire situation rather odd."
    "My lord, I swear to you, this is not a joke or a game. There really is a blackmailer out there somewhere
    and he is threatening my aunt. I concluded that there must be some connection between your circle of
    acquaintances and that of my aunt's."
    "You're forgetting one thing here, Mrs. Bright," Marcus said calmly. "I am not being blackmailed."
    She scowled. "You're quite certain of that, my lord?" "It is not the sort thing that would slip one's mind."
    Iphiginia's soft mouth firmed. "No, I suppose not.
    But why would the blackmailer make reference to you when he threatened my aunt?"
    Marcus glanced out into the busy night streets. "The reference, if it was made, was obviously a ruse
    designed to terrify your aunt and convince her to pay the extortion money.
    "The reference was indeed made, sir," Iphiginia insisted.
    "Tell me, just how far did you get in your investigation?"
    "Well, as to that, I was making considerable progress," she said eagerly. "I have already succeeded in
    searching Mr. Darrow's and Lord Judson's studies."
    "You what?" She tilted her head and gave him a quizzical glance. "I said I have had opportunities to
    search Darrow's and Judson's studies. I took advantage of invitations that I received to soirees that were
    held in their homes. I managed to slip into their studies in the course of the evening and search their
    desks."
    She was serious, he realized. "Damnation, woman, are you mad? I don't believe this. Why would you
    want to search their studies in the first place? What did you hope to discover?"
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    "Black wax and a seal engraved with a phoenix," she said succinctly. "Both were used to seal the
    blackmail notes that Aunt Zoe received."
    "Bloody hell." Marcus was too stunned by her audacity to think clearly for a few seconds. He finally
    collected his thoughts. "Black scaling wax is not uncommon. I use it myself."
    "I know, but you are unusual in that you use it for your routine correspondence, my lord. Most people
    employ black wax only for mourning. And you must admit that a phoenix seal is uncommon. In fact, the
    use of a seal, any sort of seal, is, in itself, distinctive. One would think that the average blackmailer would
    use a simple wafer to seal his letters."
    "Is there such a thing as an average blackmailer?" "I am serious, sir. Black wax and a seal engraved with
    a phoenix would constitute strong evidence against the blackmailer."
    "So you went looking for both?" It was simply too outrageous to he believed. The lady was surely lying,
    which he had suspected from the start. That was the only explanation, Marcus concluded.
    And he had thought he was an inventor of some talent, he thought wryly. Iphiginia Bright could give him
    lessons.
    "Unfortunately, I have not yet had a chance to search the studies or libraries of the others."
    "Which others?" "The men with whom you frequently play cards, of course."
    "You intend to search the libraries or studies of every man with whom I have played cards?" Marcus
    was curious to see how elaborate her tangle of lies would prove to be.
    "No, only those who were also in the habit of playing cards with Lord Guthrie when he was alive,"
    Iphiginia said crisply. She held up a hand and ticked off familiar names. "Lartmore, Darrow, Pettigrew,
    and Judson. They are the four men who link your household and that of my aunt's."
    "Because they were known to play cards at one time or another with both me and Guthrie?"
    Iphiginia sighed. "It was the only link I could discover between your circle and that of my aunt's. I
    concluded that someone who knew Lord Guthrie had somehow learned Aunt Zoe's secret. Perhaps from
    a servant. That same person also knew a great deal about you."
    "But not a secret worthy of blackmail," Marcus pointed