Read The Spider's Touch for Free Online Page B

too dour to be amusing.
    Lord Lovett had given up and had gone to sit on a sofa with Isabella, when Sir Humphrey and his sister burst breathlessly into the room. Their breathlessness turned out not to have been caused merely by a hurried walk up the stairs, for before they could even be welcomed, Sir Humphrey called from the door, “It’s good I’ve found you here, Potter. You will be needed in the park. There’s been the most frightful to-do.”
    Colonel Potter frowned. He threw a glance at Lord Lovett, and an invisible intelligence passed between them. Lord Lovett made no response except to raise an eyebrow in Sir Humphrey’s direction, before asking, “Whatever is the trouble now?”
    “Whatever it is, can’t it wait?” the Colonel said. “I was speaking to his lordship.”
    “I beg my lord’s pardon, of course.” Sir Humphrey extracted a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face, which was covered in perspiration from his haste. “But there’s trouble in the Foot-Guards. When we were coming up St. James’s, we saw a group of them waving and shouting. They were burning the shirts the King gave to them today—something about inferior cloth. They were not very happy, I assure you. I thought you might be needed to quiet them down.”
    The Colonel did not seem alarmed, but instead rather grimly pleased. “Perhaps that will teach Marlborough not to cheat them.”
    Harrowby gave him a shocked look. To criticize Marlborough, now that the Whigs were in power, was blasphemy.
    Lord Lovett relaxed into his cushions and said, “Tut, tut! I wonder what our new King will have to say on the matter? Or, rather, his interpreters, of course, for he cannot address the troops, since very few of them speak German. It will not be easy for him to sleep if his Foot-Guards are unhappy with their general. They might even think of holding his Majesty to blame, and then what?”
    “They were building a bonfire in the middle of the street as we passed,” said Sir Humphrey, waving his handkerchief in excitement, “and now that you mention it, Lovett, I believe I did hear his Majesty’s name called aloud.”
    Colonel Potter raised his upper lip in a satisfied sneer. “I shouldn’t be surprised if you did.”
    “This may be something to consider.” Sir Humphrey seemed curiously elated.
    Hester was no expert on the army, but even she knew that it was no small thing for troops this close to the King to be angry with him.
    “Shouldn’t you do something about it?” Harrowby said helplessly to Colonel Potter. “We regret the loss of your company—very amiable and all that, of course—but your duty to his Majesty will naturally come first. I am not a military man, thank God!—but that’s what I should think. Needn’t be concerned about offending us. An’t that right, Little Woman?” he said to his wife.
    Isabella was making sweet eyes at Lord Lovett and tapping his thigh with her fan, but she raised her eyes to her husband and agreed, “Whatever you say, my Lambikins.”
    Thus urged, the Colonel truly had no choice but to go. He hid his irritation with imperfect grace as he begged his hosts to excuse him and promised to pay them another visit just as soon as he was able.
    Once he quitted the room, Sir Humphrey recalled with a sudden start that he had not yet observed the rules of politeness. He made Mrs. Jamison known to the few in the room who had not already met her. Isabella called to one of the footman to place a chair for her beside Mrs. Mayfield, and Sir Humphrey looked over his group of friends with pleasure.
    “Well, here we are then, my dears,” he began afresh, once his sister had been settled. He folded his fingers over his paunch and beamed. “Very well met, indeed. I have not seen any of you since the day of our going to see the infant with the mark. I hope that everyone is recovered from that incident. The ladies took no serious fright, I hope, for in truth there was nothing to fear.”
    This