The fellow who had spoken to him narrowed his eyes, peering towards Henry, who immediately ducked his head lower still.
“Is there a reason that you need somewhere new?” he asked, rubbing one hand over his moustache and straggly beard. “Don’t pay your debts?”
“I always pay my debts,” Henry retorted, a lot more quickly than he’d intended and with a good deal more sharpness than he wanted. “There’s nothing false about me.”
This was accompanied by a lift of his head and his gaze fixing itself on the fellow in question. The man reared back, and Henry immediately dropped his head again, crushing his frustration and anger and irritated at how quickly it had come out of him.
“Is that so?” The man scowled and put one hand to his waist, the other swinging low by his side in a slightly threatening manner. “We’ve been getting plenty of your sort here the last few months. You’re another one, ain’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Henry replied stiffly, knowing all too well what the fellow meant. Apparently, his attempt at disguising his standing in society had failed spectacularly.
“So long as you cause no trouble, I suppose you can play.” Sniffing, the man stopped swinging his arm, and Henry let out a slow breath of relief. “I want you to make sure that you pay your debts, though.” The fellow thumped one hand on the counter, making Henry flinch. “You lose here, you pay them straight away. None of these ‘vowels’, that’s not for our sort. Don’t think that you can bring that here. We won’t have it.”
“I understand.” He shrugged and, after a moment of hesitation, shoved his hands in his pockets. It was a most uncomfortable action and one he was quite unused to, but he assumed that it was a gesture suitable for the class of men he was playing with. He was not dressed in his usual finery this evening, but rather in a pair of breeches that were a little ill-fitting, a plain shirt, and a jacket that remained unbuttoned. There was no cravat about his neck – not even a tie – and that felt all the stranger. He had been very tempted to wear his hat but had decided against it. Looking around now, he was very glad that he had made that decision.
“Go on then,” the man muttered, as though by being accepted, Henry was expected to begin playing immediately. “No need for you to hang around here, is there?”
“Unless I want to order a drink first,” Henry smiled, not quite ready to sit down at a table. He had no knowledge of who would be here this evening, and certainly had no expectation of knowing any of them. Most of these men were from the lower classes, but if the man here had just stated how tired he was of the same sort as Henry coming through the doors, then perhaps other men of his class would be here this evening also.
“What will you have then?”
The man flung out one hand to the proprietor, busy pouring something into a rather dirty glass.
“Whisky.”
The man chuckled, his mouth wide in a grin, revealing the many gaps where his teeth should have been.
“I can get you beer,” he laughed, as Henry grimaced. “It’s not going to be the best beer either, but it’s all we’ve got in a place like this.”
“Beer it is, then.”
Trying to smile, but with his stomach already revolting against the idea of drinking anything that came from this place, Henry frowned suddenly. Hadn’t they ordered whisky and brandy on the night that they’d all come here to gamble? Why, then, was it entirely absent now?
“We only have your type of stuff when the gentlemen bring it.” As if he’d known his thoughts, the man nudged Henry in the ribs. “And unless you brought some with you, then beer is all you can have tonight.”
“That will do.”
Accepting what the man offered and throwing the proprietor the coin that paid for at least three glasses of beer, he took the glass with one hand and then leaned back against the counter. He did not drink it but, instead, he held it close as he looked across the room.
What exactly is it that I am looking for here?
The answers were so vague that he shook his head, scowling to himself. Of course he wanted to find the gentleman responsible and yes, this was the very best place to begin his investigations. But how he was to get from here to discovering who the gentleman was that had tricked him, he had very little idea.
“I’ve seen you here before.”
A young lady came towards him, her head tilted as she smiled in his direction. Henry pushed himself away from the counter, turning to face her, a little confused.
“I do not think that we have met before.”
Her voice and smile were soft.
“Of course we have. You’ve not been here for a while, have you?”
“No, I haven’t,” Henry admitted quickly, a spark of interest in his mind. “But you say you remember seeing me?”
“Of course I remember you.” She put one hand on his arm. “You weren’t here alone though, were you? You had a friend.”
“I was here with a few of my friends, actually, although you probably did not see us all together. We came in together certainly, but I do not believe that we stayed together for long.”
