Brian shook his head slowly. "I've seen pagan vileness done in India to make strong men sick," he said. "But to see it done in England is more than I can bear!" Brian tugged at his whiskers, a gesture Mallory found oddly familiar. "I knew it was right to come to you, Ned. You always seem to see straight through things, the way none else can. Say on, then! What shall we do about this horrid business? What can we do?"
"That pistol in your holsteris it in working order?"
Brian's eyes brightened. "Truth to tell, 'tisn't regulation! A war trophy, gotten off a dead Tzarist officer" He began to unlatch his holster-flap.
Mallory shook his head quickly, looking about the lobby. "You're not afraid to use your pistol, if you have to do so?"
"Afraid?" Brian said. "If you warn't a civilian, Ned, I might take that question ill."
Mallory stared at him.
Brian met his eyes boldly. "It's for the family, ain't it? That's what we fought the Russkies forfor the sake of the folks at home."
"Where is Thomas?"
"He's eating in thewell, I'll show you."
Brian led the way into the Palace saloon. The scholarly precincts were crowded with babbling, raucous diners, working-folk mostly, forking up potatoes off the Palace china as if famished. Young Tom Mallory, dressed rather flash in a short linen coat and checked trousers, sat at table with a companion, over the remains of fried fish and lemonade.
The other man was Ebenezer Fraser.
"Ned!" cried Tom. "I knew you'd come!" He rose, and seized another chair. "Sit down with us, sit down! Your friend Mr. Fraser here has been kind enough to buy us lunch."
"And how are you. Dr. Mallory?" Fraser inquired glumly.
"A bit fatigued," Mallory told him, sitting, "but nothing a bite of food and a huckle-buff wouldn't set to rights. How are you, Fraser? Quite recovered, I hope?" He lowered his voice. "And what line of clever nonsense have you been telling my poor brothers, pray?"
Fraser said nothing.
"Sergeant Fraser's a London policeman," Mallory said. "Of the dark-lantern variety."
"Truly?" Tom blurted, alarmed.
A waiter worked his way toward the table, one of the regular staff, looking harried and apologetic. "Dr. Mallorythe Palace larder's a bit low, sir. Simple fish-and-taters would be best, sir, if you don't mind it."
"That will be fine. And if you could mix a huckle-buffwell, never mind. Bring me coffee. Strong and black."
Fraser watched the waiter leave, with melancholy patience. "You must have had a lively night," Fraser remarked, when the man was out of ear-shot. Both Tom and Brian were watching Fraser with a new, half-resentful suspicion.
"I have discovered that the toutCaptain Swing, that ishas gone to earth in the West India Docks," Mallory said. "He's attempting to incite a general insurrection!"
Fraser's lips tightened.
"He has an Engine printing-press, and a rabble of confederates. He's printing seditious documents by the scores and hundreds. I confiscated a few specimens this morningobscene, libelous, Luddite filth!"
"You've been industrious."
Mallory snorted. "I'll shortly be a deal busier yet, Fraser. I mean to hunt the wretch down directly and put a sharp end to this!"
Brian leaned forward. "It was this 'Captain Swing' who wrote that lying slander against our Maddy, then, was it?"
"Yes."
Tom sat up straight in his chair, with a flush of excitement. "West India Docks. Where's that, then?"
"Down on the Limehouse Reach, clear across London," Fraser said.
"That don't matter a hang,"
Tom said quickly. "I've my Zephyr!"
Mallory was startled. "You brought the Brotherhood's racer?"
Tom shook his head. "Not that old banger, Ned, but the latest model! She's a spanking-new little beauty, sitting in your Palace stables. Took us all the way from Sussex in a morning, and would have gone faster yet, if I hadn't had a coal-wain hitched to her." He laughed. "We can go wherever we like!"
"Let's not lose our heads, gentlemen," Fraser warned.
They fell unwillingly silent for a moment, as the waiter deftly set Mallory's food before him. The sight of fried plaice and sliced potatoes made Mallory's stomach knot with a famished pang. "We are free British subjects and may go as we please," Mallory said firmly, then seized his silverware and fell to at once.
"I can only call that foolish," said Fraser. "Riotous mobs are roaming the streets, and the man you seek is as cunning as an adder."
Mallory grunted derisively.
Fraser was dour. "Dr. Mallory, it is my duty to see that you don't come to harm! We can't have you stirring up dangerous serpent's-nests in the vilest slums in London!"
Mallory gulped hot coffee. "You know that he means to destroy me," he told Fraser, locking eyes with him. "If I don't finish him now, while I've the chance, he'll slowly peck me into pieces. There's not a dashed thing you can do that can protect me! This man is not like you and I, Fraser! He is beyond the pale! The stakes are life and deathit is him, or me! You know that is the truth."
Fraser, struck by Mallory's argument, looked shaken. Tom and Brian, even more alarmed at this new revelation of the depth of their troubles, glanced at one another in confusion, then turned to glare angrily at Fraser.