“Hm,” Matthew heard Julian mutter beside him, another noncommittal utterance but this time Matthew thought it was more an expression of awe … and the realization that this was the force of nature they had to bargain with.

“Please,” said Lash in a more contained voice, “do continue your feasting.” He drew from a pocket of his uniform a gold pocket watch, which he set upon the table between Matthew and Montague next to the bones of the cooked goose. “I will take this moment to say that I know you all have journeyed a distance to attend here tonight … some more distance than others … and I am gratified at the interest you and your affiliations have shown.”

As Lash spoke, both the Owl and Elizabeth Mulloy quietly entered the dining room behind him, and again Matthew felt his stomach squeeze with tension around the grand meal he’d just consumed … and hoped to keep down.

“This is a momentous occasion,” Lash said. “Great expense and precise planning had to be undertaken, but from the beginning I understood that I was not going to fail. I will admit to you that my associates and I—”

Yes, I know who those must be, Matthew thought: the fortunately dead Mother Deare and the unfortunately living Cardinal.

“—did fail twice in this attempt, as the plans went awry at the last moment. Therefore we had to wait until a more opportune time, which we of course seized … and the result is, I own a volume that has the power to change the world. You know it as a book of chemical and botanical potions once possessed by England’s own Professor Fell, and I think all of you recognize the importance of that name.” He paused. One wilderness of an eyebrow gave a slight twitch. “I mean to say … what once was the importance. Time does not stand still, gentlemen and madam. Neither does the control of power. This volume … whatever we had to do to get it, whatever risks had to be taken … well, the formulas in the book do speak for themselves.”

Lash began to slowly pace from one end of the table to the other. “Let us understand the procedure.” His boots made a clacking sound on the stones. “This has been a long time in the preparation—as you all well know—and I shall not rush it now. One by one, according to the number you were given that applies to your arrival here, I will see you privately in my study, and thereupon will hear the amount you have elected to offer in exchange for—”

“Just a moment, sir!”

The voice was startling, since everyone but the speaker had been so focused upon not only Samson Lash’s speech, but his presence.

Victor had spoken. “I protest against that procedure! Why not have open bidding?”

Lash stopped pacing, stood very still, and stared at him.

The moment stretched.