Chapter 72

Cordelia looked incredulous. “Have you heard a single word I’ve said?”

“Are you afraid I’ll hang?”

“Aren’t you?”

“They rarely hang men for sodomy these days.” Perhaps if he was brutally blunt, his aunt would abandon the subject. In any case, his head was pounding too much for tact.

He should have known it wouldn’t be enough to deter her. “They dohang men for murder. Tobias Norville might not have caused much notice, but Dearborne is an earl, for all that his is American.”

“Again, no one can even say for certain that Dearborne has vanished,” Julien countered. “I will send a letter today, and but by messenger. This way we will have our answer in a day or two.”

* * * *

Standing stoically near the door to the card room, Julien wondered how much longer he’d have to endure Lady Rockingham’s ball before Cordelia and Penelope deemed his ordeal over.