Chapter 17At the beginning of January, and not a moment too soon, Percy arrived back in Mayfair on a damp and chilly evening after a tediously arduous and bumpy journey furnished with inadequate inns. It was a blessing to discover his apartments were arranged exactly as he could wish. Added to that, William and Matilda fussed over him so agreeably that the lack of his former valet counted for nothing. With typical efficiency, the maid whisked away the luggage to unpack while William divested Percy of his Hessian boots and many-caped traveling coat.
With the servants occupied in seeing to his comfort, Percy sipped a glass of brandy in his drawing-room, sitting lengthways on his pale gold sofa in his stockinged feet, simply enjoying the novelty of some uninterrupted peace.
Through his fog
