Chapter 27Percy felt like a corner had been turned, not only in his current preoccupations but his entire attitude to his family. Immediately after watching Armand handling Clarence’s vileness with remarkable adeptness, Percy sank into the nearest chair, his face in his hands. He felt a reassuring touch on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Armand holding a glass of brandy.
“Santé. It’s good for shock,” he said gently. “And we must appear serene once we return to the ballroom, for Eustacia’s sake.”
So Percy had downed the brandy, composed himself, and returned arm in arm with his brother to the main reception room. To their hosts, Armand excused Clarence’s regrettable outburst as the fault of a nervous condition. Percy wondered at Armand’s charming penitence and commendable duplicit
