Daniel felt another surge of unreasonable jealousy.
“So, tell me,” he said, more sharply than he had intended. “How have your business ventures been progressing lately?”
Lucas chuckled again, but he did not acknowledge Daniel’s defensiveness, for which Daniel immediately felt ashamed.
“Well,” Lucas said with a sigh. “I lost one major contract. Some trouble with a shipment. However, next week, I am meeting with a fellow who is offering a business deal that is almost three times more profitable than the one I lost.”
It was Daniel’s turn to laugh.
“Do you mean that you procrastinated and missed a deadline and lost the contract?” he asked.
Lucas glowered at him, once again with no real hostility.
“You really should consider a career in entertainment,” he said dryly.
Daniel averted his gaze. Not for the first time, he wished that he could tell his friend about his secret identity. He trusted his friend implicitly.
However, he knew that one accidental slip of the tongue, even if not done with malicious intent, could let loose his secret, and incur the wrath of his father.
“I will take that under advisement,” Daniel said.
Lucas patted him on the shoulder and led him toward a servant holding a tray of champagne. Daniel took one and held it up to his friend in a gesture of cheers and sipped greedily.
Fortunately, Lucas did not seem to notice as he took his own flute of champagne.
He was casually perusing the crowd of people, which seemed to Daniel to have grown exponentially since his arrival only moments before. Daniel groaned to himself, and silently hoped that he had not missed his chance to get his dance with Rose.
“Speaking of entertainment,” Lucas said, bringing his attention back to his friend. “Did you hear about what happened at Lord Roxbough’s theater?”
Daniel nodded grimly.
“I was there,” he said.
Lucas’s eyes widened.
“Of all nights that you could have chosen to attend the theater,” he said. “It is fortunate that you were uninjured.”
Daniel nodded again.
“It is fortunate that no one was seriously injured,” he said with a shudder.
Lucas, of course, noticed his friend’s discomfort.
“How did it happen?” he asked.
“I do not know,” Daniel said, looking away from his friend and pretending to scan the crowd as Lucas had done.
Lucas shook his head.
“It was a terrible accident, to be sure,” he said. “Of course, there are many who say it was no accident at all.”
At this, Daniel became acutely intrigued. Could Lucas have heard something that will help us catch the man responsible?
“Oh?” he said, trying to appear curious rather than desperate.
“You know how people in the ton talk,” Lucas said dismissively. “They will do anything to find a piece of gossip, even if they have to concoct it themselves.”
“Yes,” Daniel said, struggling to remain as nonchalant as his friend. “But sometimes, gossip comes from a fraction of truth.”
Lucas laughed.
“Well, that is true enough,” he said. “In fact, there was quite an interesting piece of information revealed that was not merely gossip.”
“Is that so?” Daniel asked. His struggle to remain casual became harder by the minute, but he could not afford to display too much interest in the incident in the theater, or anything that could be related.
Not only might it expose his identity as the Specter, it could also alert the perpetrator to his involvement in trying to solve the mystery.
“Indeed,” Lucas said, his eyes lighting up. “Are you familiar with an actress by the name of Winnie Palsdon?”
Daniel remained silent for a moment. He, of course, knew who Winnie was. He had performed in a few plays with her, although they had only had a handful of scenes together.
However, he could not admit that that is how he knew her, so he pretended to think for a moment.
“I believe that I know the name,” he said.
“Well, it appears that she has something of a secret,” Lucas said. He paused as a laughing couple passed by where he and Daniel were standing. He lowered his voice to just above a whisper once they had passed. “It would seem as though she were having an affair with a rather wealthy and well-known member of ton society.”
Daniel forced himself to don an expression of disgusted horror, though part of him felt only anger and dismay. Why did it have to be such an atrocity for someone of wealth and high social standing in the ton to affiliate with an actor or actress?
“Oh, my,” he said. “Who is the gentleman?”
Lucas shrugged.
“The rumors name a few different men,” he said, keeping his voice low. “And, it would seem that Winnie denies none of the men mentioned. However, the evidence seems to point to Lord Rayton. Do you know who he is?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“I believe that my father had many business dealings with him when I was a child,” he said.
“Of course, that is not for certain,” Lucas continued. “Even the biggest gossips in the ton will not say with full certainty. But can you imagine the scandal if word got out it was him? Or, once word spreads about who it actually is?”
Daniel nodded again, once more feeling animosity toward the ton’s views about fraternizing with actors.
“Of course, once the rumors began spreading, the mystery man allegedly put a stop to the affair,” Lucas said. “And, according to the rumors, Winnie was furious, and started making threats of exposing the man and finding ways to ruin him. They say that she has not as yet directly identified the gentleman, but that she has dropped hints, and promised to tell everyone if she does not get what she wants.”
Daniel groaned. Suddenly, polite society’s aversion to associating with stage performers made a bit more sense to him. The thought only served to anger him further.
However, along with the agitation of his thoughts blossomed an idea. If there was a scandal involving an actress, there might be motive to harm the theater. Whether it was the actress herself, the man with whom she was allegedly involved, or another party who simply disapproved with their fraternizing enough to lash out, it could potentially be a lead. Daniel made a mental note to investigate the claims the next chance he got.
Just then, Rose walked off the dance floor with her partner. She was just a few steps away from him, but she had not spotted him yet.