Crossed Quills Read Online Free

busy helping to support my family.”
     “Too proud to ask for help, yet ashamed of working for a living,” Mrs Lisle observed dryly.
     “Not at all!” exclaimed Lord Selworth with considerable indignation, his colour still further heightened.
     Though her mother appeared satisfied, Pippa wondered if it was the kind of work the viscount had done which embarrassed him, rather than the fact of working. If he were a character in one of the Gothic romances she found an agreeable change from polemics, he would have taken to the highways as a Gentleman of the Road.
     With regret, she decided a career as a highwayman was sadly improbable. Perhaps he had been employed by one of those middle-men or jobbers whom Papa and Mr Cobbett regarded as abominable parasites.
     Maybe that was the only work he could find, she thought charitably.
     “Anyway, that is all in the past,” his lordship said hurriedly. “Now I am a peer; I have a seat in the House of Lords. I want to do what I can to help the poor, but I cannot expect to wield any influence unless I make an impression with my maiden speech. I have tried to compose a suitable oration,” he confessed, “but I made a mull of it.”
     “So you wish to consult Prometheus?” Pippa guessed.
     “I have long admired his writings. I hope he will realize that, quite apart from the injury to my pride,”—he gave Mrs Lisle a wry look—”it will do the cause no good if I stand up and make a cake of myself.”
     “Speaking of cake,” Kitty put in, “do you wish me to make tea, Mama?”
     “Pray do, my love. You will drink tea, gentlemen?”
     “Thank you, ma’am, we shall be delighted.”
     Mr Chubb mumbled something indistinguishable, turned crimson, and muttered semi-audibly, “Give you a hand, Miss Catherine.”
     Kitty smiled at him and said, “How kind of you, sir.”
     A besotted look on his face, he followed her out. Pippa swallowed a sigh. Her sister had made another instant conquest.
     Lord Selworth frowned after his friend, but quickly returned to business. “I am sorely in need of Prometheus’s advice, Mrs Lisle. Naturally I expect to pay for his assistance.”
     “No matter how much you are willing to pay, sir,” Mrs Lisle warned him, “Prometheus would never write or help to write anything not wholeheartedly in accord with my husband’s principles.”
     “Nor would I ask it of him, ma’am. I fancy my aims agree with those of the late Mr Lisle and the gentleman who has stepped into his shoes, or picked up his quill, I should say.”
     Mrs Lisle nodded approvingly. “I am delighted to hear it. The poor and voteless have too few champions in the House of Lords.”
     “Mama!” Pippa exclaimed in alarm. “I think it most unlikely that Prometheus will be willing to unmask, even in so noble a cause.” Drat, she should not have risked the pun. Being clever might arouse the viscount’s suspicions. She must strive to seem featherwitted—yet she could not let Mama make unredeemable promises. “Did not Mr Cobbett’s letter say those horrid Tories are threatening him with imprisonment again?”
     “I assure you, Miss Lisle, I should do nothing to endanger Prometheus. His secret would be safe with me. Besides, he is no vitriolic insurrectionist, as Cobbett frequently appears to be. Cobbett’s prejudices too often get the better of his common sense, and even drive him to be careless with facts, whereas Prometheus is known for his brilliant use of reasoned argument.”
     Pippa felt herself blushing at this fervent compliment. “I beg your pardon, sir,” she said hastily, hoping he would ascribe her pink face to embarrassment for having misjudged him. “I did not mean to suggest that you would betray Prometheus on purpose.”
     “Your concern for the gentleman’s safety does you credit, Miss Lisle.” The viscount’s warm smile did nothing to cool her cheeks. “He is a close friend of the family, I collect, or a relative,