Chapter 2, Part 3: In Which A Familiar Venue is Revisited

[al-shairan.livejournal.com]

It is about ten o'clock at night of the same day. The damp weather has turned into a light drizzle, and the streets are foggy, mist grey-yellow in the light from the street lamps. The Whitechapel Club is fairly quiet tonight, half a dozen or so members sitting in the drawing room talking, whilst upstairs in the salon a few members are playing whist. Albert, Duke of Kent, has been ensconced in the library for the past hour.

I enjoyed Arabella's tea party, although I left fairly early. I had an early dinner engagement with a business associate, and then I enjoyed a charming hour in the arms of the accommodating Gladys, who has proved to be quite a pleasant asset. She is extremely accommodating, talks little, and seems prepared to do almost anything if asked politely, and so I have had her at my house quite regularly this last fortnight. I do not think she has the potential to be a long term mistress, but certainly I can see her amusing me for another week or two. Perhaps by then the delectable Lady Wanda will have submitted to my advances...

Now I am at my club. I wonder if Catte and his handsome friend will turn up. I do imagine they might, and the thought amuses me. I think for now I should be happy to leave the two of them alone; Catte is so nervy that he could easily let this opportunity slide out of his grasp if he were nervous, and since the poor bastard is undoubtedly being cuckolded by his wife with Donner, I have a pitying sort of impulse to leave him be - unless, of course, I change my mind. I find if I follow my whims things generally work out well for me.

For now I am content to sit in a quiet corner of the library and read, a glass of brandy beside me. I could do this equally well in my own home, of course, but even when I am not talking with the company, there is something convivial simply in being at the club.