Naylor rose. “He has a point, Elsmore. I could quietly dispatch him for you. Solve a lot of problems and provide me with enough entertainment to last half the night.”

Naylor’s dead-cold gaze unnerved James, but Elsmore’s silence turned worry into panic. “Elsmore, you will not ruin this bank simply to punish me. You aren’t a murderer.”

The next silence was hellish.

“You can’t let him be publicly hanged,” Naylor mused. “The scandal would pass, but a certain party isn’t keen on hangings of any sort. Won’t serve, Your Grace.”

That got Elsmore’s attention. “No public hanging?”

Naylor shook his head. “Our mutual acquaintance has strong feelings on that topic.”

“Interesting.” Elsmore plucked the walking stick from Naylor’s grasp and tossed it at James. “You can pawn that in Dover for passage to someplace I won’t think to find you. Your greatcoat will bring some coin, as will your gloves and waistcoat. Rings, watch, sleeve buttons, and cravat pin all have value, as does the education I paid for. One question before you go.”

He will allow me to live. Later James would puzzle out how to get to Dover without any funds. “Ask.”

“Why slander my sister? Why spread lies about Rachel when she’s never done anything to hurt you?”

“Because as soon as she marries, Samantha and Kathleen will each bring some bachelor up to scratch. I’ll lose access to their accounts, and their accounts are lucrative. You never begrudged them anything, never questioned their expenses no matter how extravagant. A few very discreet rumors in the ears of would-be suitors hardly amounted to slander. The aunties are getting old, the boy cousins only spend a few years at university, but a spinster sister or two…You would have bought them the stars if they’d asked it of you.”

“While you, poor thing, had to pretend to work,” Elsmore said. “Is Edward part of your scheme?”

“No. Nor is Howell. Howell is too decent, Edward is too careful. He does some lucrative brokering, but that’s the extent of his misconduct that I know of.”

Naylor came around the desk and held out some banknotes. “Elsmore is also afflicted with decency. He doesn’t grasp that if you’re to slink off to some stinking hole in Amsterdam, you need the means to slink there. We can’t have you kicking your heels in Dover or Portsmouth causing embarrassment when the authorities find you. You don’t dare go to Paris, where familiar faces will ask awkward questions, and passage to Rome is too costly.”

“I’ll go,” James said, eyeing the banknotes. “I’ll go and I’ll stay gone. I was planning on leaving soon anyway, and there’s no need to alert the authorities.”