Chapter 6“I didn’t expect to see you in town until nearer the autumn,” Jo remarked as he took his usual armchair opposite Ben in his Piccadilly rooms. Cribbins, Ben’s manservant, was bustling around, whisking off dust sheets and putting the sitting room to rights in the late afternoon sunlight.
“Would you like some refreshment, Mr. Jo?” Cribbins asked.
“Only when you have a spare minute,” Jo said cordially as Cribbins purposefully departed with an armful of cloth.
“I think there’s some claret in the pantry,” Ben called helpfully after the departing servant, then he grinned. “Are you complaining that I’m in London?”
Jo thought his friend looked in good spirits, despite the jolting tedium of the journey. His injured leg was resting on a footstool as a precautionary measure, the prosthesi
