25Percival looked out at the street and then at his Cartier watch. His brother was late, as usual, and he allowed himself to glower and feel annoyed, knowing that once Luc showed up he would have to keep those feelings under wraps. They didn’t see each other often in Paris. Luc kept odd hours, and their friends belonged to such different social groups—one conformist and conservative, the other dabbling in radical politics or at least a lot of m*******a consumption—that on the rare times they did get together, it was always just the two of them.
Percival went to the bar and ordered an Armagnac. He was lost in his own thoughts, not noticing the other patrons. Eventually, when he was on his second drink, Luc sauntered in. His boyish good looks attracted the attention of a group of young wome
