“And where was this?”

“At Pat Steell’s tavern, in a private room upstairs.” She’d feared the worst, when Archie had escorted her upstairs to meet a stranger in that room, particularly when they’d found the stranger waiting for them, sitting up in bed with the bedcurtains partly drawn. But nothing more had happened than the other man had read the document, asked Lily some brief questions, and then given his approval. “Very good,” he’d said to Archie. “I shall tell His Grace, and we’ll proceed from there. With luck, it won’t take long.”

I stopped her there. “You’re sure he said ‘His Grace’?”

“I’m certain of it.”

I was not an expert on the forms of social address, but I did know that few people were raised high enough to merit being called “Your Grace,” a form most commonly reserved for dukes. And while I’d not accuse a man on nothing more than my suspicions, I knew of but one duke who had close ties to Steell’s tavern.

“This man you met at the Cross Keys,” I asked Lily, “what did he look like?”

“He stayed behind the bedcurtains. I never did see him directly. Except he was fat, and his manner was pleasant.”

He might be the same jovial man I had seen there myself tonight, who had been trying too hard to appear drunk, and sitting behind Captain Gordon. “And what happened after that?”

“He kept the marriage certificate, and we left. I was told he would see it was presented on my behalf to the Commissioners for the Equivalent. I did not see it again till the day I was summoned to meet your friend Gilroy. And you.”

That was a day I would always remember. “And have you been back to the Cross Keys since?”

“No. If Archie wishes to see me, he sends word that I am to meet him at St. Giles’s.”

“You find him with the Regent Murray?” I guessed, thinking back to last Sabbath, when I’d found her waiting beside the great tomb of the venerable regent where so many people met to strike their deals and pay their debts, and on whose plaque dejected Justice drooped while Faith kept writing in her book as though determined not to give up hope.

“Aye.”

“And if you wish to meet with him?” I asked.

The light was dim within the room, but I could see her fear. “You are not thinking to confront him?”

“Do you know where he does lodge? Henry says he is rarely to be found at Riddell’s Close these days.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Lily. “Archie is a wanted man, he told me so himself. In fact—” She caught herself, and looked away as though she could not meet my eyes.

“What is it?” When she stayed silent, I said, “I know there’s a warrant for Archie’s arrest. Gilroy told me. He said Archie forged a will to help some people claim funds falsely from the Equivalent. So, you see? It is no secret.”