The Titans by John Jakes

Author:John Jakes [Jakes, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4532-5594-0
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com / Open Road
Published: 2012-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

iv

Despite the disturbing undercurrents Louis had set in motion at the table, Michael indulged his slum-born appetite and ate voraciously. He did it not only to fill his belly but to occupy his hands and mind. To the superb Dover sole, the sauces, side dishes and sweet pastries, he added an uncommonly large amount of the various wines served with each course.

Curiously, the alcohol did little to relax him. He still felt tense when the meal ended and the gentlemen separated from the ladies. The former retired to the library, the latter to the drawing room.

As the ladies left, he experienced a touch of malicious pleasure at the sight of Julia flanked by an octoroon and a Jewess. No doubt she found it galling to be gracious to women she’d consider her inferiors. Her laughter sounded shrill as Louis closed the library doors.

Michael walked to the marble fireplace and extended his palms toward the flames. Amanda had often teased him about his tolerance for temperatures others found unbearable. But until she hired him as a confidential clerk, he’d lived most of his life in unheated slum rooms. He wished she were present this evening instead of her son, who was pouring cognac and offering cigars from a rosewood box.

Kentland’s library was an enormous rectangular room with another of those gaudy stained glass windows at the far end. At the highest point of the ceiling—twenty feet above the floor—arches of dark wood met. Each arch was cusped, and the tips of the cusps trefoiled. Some called the carvings beautiful. Michael found them fussy, ostentatious and unconscionably expensive.

Louis tapped his shoulder. “Care for a brandy before we talk?”

Michael turned. He detected no anger or jealousy in the younger man’s dark eyes.

“Thanks, I would.”

He followed a trail of smoke to the liquor cabinet. Louis clenched the fragrant Havana in his teeth as he poured. “Joshua—”

The banker broke off a low-voiced conversation with the mulatto. “Yes?”

“You and Israel might glance through that stack of newspapers on the table.”

Though clearly puzzled by the request, the two men did as bidden. Michael took a long swallow from the snifter. The brandy burned his throat.

Just as he sat down in a large chair, Joshua Rothman exclaimed, “These are Richmond papers!”

“From the weeks prior to Sumter,” Louis nodded. “Ignore the news columns. Nothing but a lot of gas. It’s the advertisements that are provocative.”

Sipping cognac, he strolled to the window. The sky had cleared. The clouds were gone. Some of the remaining raindrops caught the moonlight and shone through the colored panes like bright gems.

Michael heard pages rustling as he returned to the fireplace. At least Louis hadn’t discarded the artifacts the family had collected over the years. Looking at the objects was never a painless experience. Amanda had gotten a mortal wound defending them with an old Colt revolver the night the house in Madison Square had been invaded by Irish thugs.

Above the mantel hung the scabbarded French sword which the founder of the family, Philip Kent, had received from a wealthy young nobleman he’d known in his native province of Auvergne.

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.