The other men were shifting in their seats. Julius’s brows were raised so high it looked painful. “Are you baiting traps?”
David smiled, sharp-toothed and wicked. Richard waved a hand, indicating that he was unconcerned. He didn’t quite feel it.
“Very well,” David said. “As to the rest of you…gossip. I need you all, from tonight, to start asking what’s wrong with Lord Maltravers.”
“That won’t take long to establish,” Francis muttered.
“No, Mr. Webster, I mean, What on earth is wrong with Maltravers?” David spoke in a voice unnervingly like Julius’s dry tone. “The fellow’s always been boastful, but really…Or Do you believe all this about Maltravers? He’s been saying the most peculiar things recently, but this seems extraordinary.”
“We’re to say that he’s a liar?” Julius asked.
“That he speaks fantasies, Mr. Norreys. Peculiar, sordid, unreliable. And ask; don’t say. Assert that you don’t believe a word of it. Wonder if anyone else has heard that he is speaking wildly. Remember that nonsense he was spouting about Harry Vane last winter or that ungentlemanly boast about Lady Beaufort—”
“What did he say about Lady Beaufort?” Harry asked, ruffled. He was one of the fashionable widow’s court and took a chivalrous interest in her reputation. “Because I can assure you, she would not drop her handkerchief for that oaf, no matter what he may claim.”
“I’m not aware he said anything, Mr. Harry. But you believed that he did.”
“He’s a braggart,” Francis said. “And a damned offensive lout.”
“Repeat his boasts and his offenses, and amplify them in the telling. The more basis in truth, the better. Would he have made remarks about any other lady?”
“He was heard to remark that he would take his pick of the Martindale girls at his leisure,” Julius said. “I found that insulting.”
“Suppose he said his pick of the girls and their mother too?” David asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Mr. Norreys, nobody would believe ill of Mrs. Martindale. If Lord Maltravers has been making remarks about her, that would only reflect on his peculiar state of mind.”
Julius considered that. An unpleasant smile dawned on his handsome features. “Do you know, perhaps he might have said such a thing. I believe I see what you’re about, Cyprian.”
“I don’t, quite,” Ash said.
“Undermining Lord Maltravers’s word,” Dominic said. “If Julius tells Mrs. Martindale that Maltravers said that about her—”
“Tells Lady Jersey that he said that about my cousin Martindale, more like,” Julius said.
“Asks Lady Jersey if she’s heard any such thing,” David said. “And asks if she was present when he said that other thing. Now, was that at Lady Hertford’s or Lady Beaufort’s? I could have sworn you were there, but perhaps not. I think people will be quite sure they were in the room at the time. With a couple of repetitions, they’ll believe they heard it themselves.”
Dominic raised a dark brow. “You don’t have a high opinion of human nature, do you?”
“People like stories, Mr. Frey. And they like to see the high brought low, and they love scandal. Give them the story of the duke’s son who is making the most shocking remarks, and it will spread whether it’s believed or not. Spread it enough, and it will be believed. After all, it must be true if everyone is saying it.”
“Yes, I see,” Julius said. “Richard, have you read Frankenstein at all? No? You probably should.”
“Do be quiet,” Dominic told him. “Will this be enough, Mr. Cyprian?”
“Not on its own, no. This is just your part.” David smiled. “Leave the rest with me.”
Chapter 13
“I am absolutely appalled,” Richard said afterward.
They had cooked up half a dozen lies that were close enough to remarks Maltravers had made to have the ring of truth, but which Julius and David had together given an extra note of malice. The others had learned their parts while David and Dominic had consulted on Mr. Skelton, black and red heads together in the corner, and then the other Ricardians had left to begin their work. Harry had been advised to adhere closely to the truth; he blushed too freely to lie well. Francis was to remind people how much Maltravers disliked him, rather than starting new hares, so that nobody should trace any slanders back to him.
Now the others had left, and Richard and David stood alone among a litter of glasses, staring at the fire.
“You did say free rein,” David said. “And I did warn you.”