“Ganymede!” It was Andō who scolded the Duke this time, though Danaë too dug reproachful fingers into her brother’s lace. “Spain is not our enemy.”

“No, but dynastic troubles are. If Perry really meant well by His Majesty, he’d get his claws out of the Crown Prince. Do you know how many nights this month Leonor Valentín has—”

The crier’s voice rose once again. “His Imperial Majesty Cornel MASON, Princeps Senatus, Pater Patriae, Praeses Maximus, Dictator Perpetuus Imperatorque Masonicus, and Madame D’Arouet.”

The hostess entered on the Emperor’s arm, the breadth of her skirts keeping him at a civil distance. MASON always seems grim at Madame’s, his suit of imperial gray transformed from grave to ominous as military flaps and cording replace the plain Masonic cut. Today the darkness spread to Madame as well, the salmon damask of her gown trimmed with festoons of black lace, as when a state funeral fills a mourning city with its trappings.

“Dearest friends,” Madame began, her chilling portrait face offering its perfect portrait smile. “You are, you know, my dearest friends in the world. I cannot say how much it means to me to have you all gathered around me like this. I like to think this little world I have created enables communication which would otherwise be segregated by the walls that protocol erects between us. Here you are friends, not governments. You can speak honestly, care, cooperate, help each other as friends should, with patience and compassion instead of laws and faceless treaties. I hope to see you all remain friends tonight, setting aside personal allegiance and vendetta to help each other weather these grave days.”

“Madame!” Kosala cried, red-faced. “You shouldn’t share other people’s secrets with the company without asking them. I don’t want—”

Madame shushed the Cousin Chair with an open palm. “I was not speaking of your situation, Bryar. We are all of us, I think, aware that something is threatening the Cousins. We love you, Bryar. Not just Déguisé, we all love you, and owe you and your Cousins an incalculable debt for your help and charity and most humane activities around the world. You know you have but to ask for help for it to be yours, and the time for that will come soon. But, for the moment, I was not speaking of your trouble, but of something graver.” Her eyes turned on the Outsider with a glistening and fragile sympathy. “I am sorry, Prime Minister, to load crisis upon you on your first visit. This should have been a time for you to enjoy the warmth of friendship, not to see it tested right away.”

Perry nodded stiffly, his nub of ponytail hissing against his velvet collar like a drummer’s brush. “It is all right, Madame. I did not join this company for the company. Go on.”

Gratitude in tear form sparkled in the corners of her eyes. “There is no one in this room, our newcomer aside, who has not at some point employed my Son, not in the individual offices He serves for each of you, but as a polylaw. He investigates what no other can be trusted to investigate, and we rely on Him to settle in secret what is best kept secret. He has found an exception.”