Love in Disguise by Edith Layton

Author:Edith Layton [Layton, Edith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Published: 2019-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

13

The little man was very nervous. It was not so much the tic in his cheek which showed it, for he always had that, and at any rate his face was so grimy that not many people cared to study it long enough to note that the thin cheek pulsed and twitched with clocklike regularity. Nor was it the fact that his sharp light eyes darting this way and that, never resting too long on any object, as though he mistrusted everything in his environment, gave his feelings away. For in his environment he’d be a fool not to cultivate distrust. No, none of these outward signs was necessary to convey his unease. He could, instead, be taken at his word. He said it the once, then he repeated it to be sure it was understood:

“Not me, sir, no. I’m too nervous is wot I am. I wouldn’t do it, no, and I couldn’t neither. Not me.”

“But your friend?” his inquisitor asked smoothly.

“Ho. My friend is even scairter. No, he’s not bright, nothing like, wee Georgie isn’t. But he’s got brain enough to be scairt. No, not him neither, sir.”

The little man sat on the edge of his chair as though he sat on tacks. It took a great deal of bravery for him to be explaining this to his questioner, and so he’d said it, and so it was. But the gentleman he spoke with didn’t seem grateful or impressed. This frightened the little man even more. He was, he knew, caught between two grinding stones, and could only hope that, as usual, he was small enough and quick enough to slide out from the middle before he was crushed by either one of them.

They sat at a cracked table in the corner of a low tavern in one of the meaner sections of London. The floor was slick with filth, despite the sawdust over it, the windows evenly grimed except for occasional ragged circles that random sleeves had made now and again in their history so the curious could peep out from them, even though all that would be seen was a cluttered alleyway. The drinking glasses were as opaque with dirt as the windows were, and had almost as many jagged edges as the chairs did, but still, it was a far better sort of place than the little man usually frequented. It was, however, entirely obvious—terrifyingly obvious—to the little man that it was the lowest tavern his visitor had ever entered, much less sat himself within.

He didn’t belong there any more than the little man did, though their business had caused one to sink lower and the other to rise higher so that they might meet in the middle to discuss it. For if the little man would never even be allowed to linger on the sidewalk outside the sort of place his visitor usually frequented, his visitor would not even step outside his carriage to enter the sort of hostelry the little man passed most of his time in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.