Boots for the Gentleman Read Online Free Page B

Lisine, and Lord Thimbleroy. This just gets more intriguing.”
    “Well, if the Grande Chancellor wants the house, the duchess will try to stop him. She just doesn’t like him. They argue in the Hall of Nobility every day about spending city taxes on the clock tower, and about foreigner’s rights. I’ve heard that it gets pretty heated. Raised voices and personal insults.”
    “So she just wants to thwart Lord Thimbleroy,” Querry mused. “But what about my gentleman?”
    “ Your gentleman might just want to thwart him too. Lord Thimbleroy is the leading voice in favor of faerie eradication.”
    “No,” Querry said. “It isn’t like that. They really don’t care. If they did, they’d just kill him.”
    They sat thinking for a long time, until finally Querry said, “So tell me what you know about the place.”
    “That’s just the thing,” Reg said. “The place is nothing special, just like you said. It was built a little over a hundred years ago and belonged to a doll maker and his family. His wife and daughter died during the plague, and he died fifty years later. He bequeathed the property to an illegitimate son, who never showed up to claim it. It’s been empty ever since.”
    “So it’s been abandoned for half a century or so, and all of the sudden everyone’s interested? Why?”
    Reg shrugged. “It doesn’t make any sense. The man made toys. Elaborate ones, with some of the first clockwork parts, but still just playthings for spoiled children.”
    “Floor plan?” Querry asked.
    “Sorry,” Reg said. “I guess nobody thought it was that important.”
    “But it must be,” Querry said. “There must be something there. Something valuable.”
    “I don’t see how there could be,” Reg answered. “It would have been looted a long time ago.”
    “Something’s going on.”
    “I have to admit, I’m curious now too,” Reg said, brushing his fringe away from his forehead. “I’m sure you’ll break in?”
    “I don’t know if you can call it breaking in,” Querry said, feigning innocence. “But I’ll have a look.”
    “I’ll keep my ears open here.” Reg looked up. When their eyes met, Querry noticed the old conspiratorial gleam. Reg hoped something would happen, an adventure like they’d fantasized about as boys, something that might save him from his predetermined future and dull occupation. Maybe he still carried hope for the two of them, but Querry didn’t know for sure.
    “We should get together,” Querry said. He couldn’t help it. For a minute, he’d seen his old Reg again, and that glimpse towed behind it a host of other images. Watching Reg’s face in the low light, Querry could picture his cheeks darkening, his full lips falling open, and the little crease forming between his brows. He saw Reg throw his head back and bite his lower lip to stay quiet.
    “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    “I miss you,” Querry admitted. “Could we go somewhere? I have a little money.”
    “Querry, we’ve talked about this. We can’t.”
    “Why?”
    “It just isn’t done. I know that never stops you from anything, but if anyone found out the Whitneys would be ruined. Those few times we met in secret were dangerous enough. Consorting in public is out of the question.”
    “Don’t want any of your rich friends to see you slumming?”
    “You know that’s not what I mean. I don’t feel that way and never have!”
    “In private then,” Querry said. “Tell me where.”
    “I have an engagement tonight. The fair daughter of Baron Cackleberry.”
    Querry strode to the desk and grabbed Reg by the back of the neck, remembering all too well that his friend enjoyed a little force. He leaned in until their noses touched tip to tip. Sure enough, he saw a line of sweat sparkling above Reg’s lip, heard the urgency of his breath. “You still want me, don’t say you don’t.”
    “Querry, I—”
    “I know you’re grateful to your family, but it’s still your life,