Lost City by Cussler Clive & Kemprecos Paul

Author:Cussler, Clive & Kemprecos, Paul [Cussler, Clive & Kemprecos, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Historical, Adventure, Age Range 2 Older Audience, Science Fiction, Suspense
ISBN: 9780141017716
Amazon: 0141017716
Goodreads: 458822
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2004-07-22T07:00:00+00:00

22

CAVENDISH WAS superbly intoxicated. The Englishman had shoved his raven’s beak onto the top of his head to allow his rosebud mouth unimpeded access to his wine goblet. He had been gurgling wine throughout the medieval-style dinner, washing down the exotic game dishes—everything from lark to boar—like a human garbage disposal. Austin picked at his food to be polite, took an occasional sip of wine and advised Skye to do the same. They would need clear heads if his instincts were on the mark.

As soon as the dessert dishes were removed, Cavendish staggered to his feet and tapped the side of his water glass with a spoon. All eyes turned in his direction. He raised his goblet. “I would like to offer a toast to our host and hostess.”

“Hear, hear,” his fellow guests replied in boozy acknowledgment, lifting their drinks as well.

Encouraged by the response, Cavendish smiled. “As many of you know, the Fauchard and the Cavendish families go back centuries. We all know how the Fauchards, ah, borrowed the Cavendish process for forging steel on a mass basis, thus assuring their own rise while my people faded into the sunset.”

“The fortunes of war,” said the ape from The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

“I’ll drink to that.” Cavendish took a swig from his goblet. “Unfortunately, or fortunately, given the tendency of Fauchards to meet fatal accidents, we never married into their family.”

“The fortunes of love,” said the woman draped in bells. The guests around the table roared their drunken approval.

Cavendish waited for the laughter to die down, then said, “I doubt if the word love was ever uttered in this household. But any one can love. How many families can boast that they single-handedly started the War to End All Wars?”

A heavy silence descended on the table. The guests glanced furtively at Madame Fauchard, who had been sitting at the head of the table with her son seated to her right. She maintained the waxen smile she had held throughout the oration, but her eyes radiated the same heat Austin had seen when Skye mentioned her mortality.

“Monsieur Cavendish is most flattering, but he exaggerates the influence of the Fauchard family,” she said in a cool voice. “There were many causes for the Great War. Greed, stupidity and arrogance, to name a few. Every family in this room joined the jingoistic pack in urging on the war that made us all fortunes.”

Cavendish would not be discouraged. “Take credit where credit is due, my dear Racine. It is true that we arms people owned the newspapers and bribed the politicians who howled for war, but it was the Fauchard family, in its infinite wisdom, that paid to have the Grand Duke Ferdinand assassinated, thus plunging the world into a bloody brawl. We all know the rumors that Jules Fauchard bolted the pack, thus ensuring his untimely departure from the earth.”

“Monsieur Cavendish,” Madame Fauchard said, her voice a warning growl. But the Englishman was on a roll.

“But what many don’t know,” he said,

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