‘I was a blind fool, Nick,’ he confided. ‘I laughed with the rest of them at Nimbus but I was only watching myself. I was a stallion led astray by a mare. You stopped me from making an exhibition of myself before the whole company.’
Nicholas was tactful. ‘We are glad to have you back.’
‘Sebastian and I were yoked together in lunacy.’
‘Were you?’
‘Both of us succumbed to mad courtesans.’
‘Sebastian paid the higher price.’
‘I’ll not forget that.’ Firethorn sighed. ‘His father and his sister have much to thank you for, Nick, and my own gratitude will be never-ending.’ He put an affectionate arm around the other’s shoulders. ‘Look at this place. We have known such joys, such victories, such acclamation in this inn yard. Hector of Troy has fought here. And Vincentio, and King Richard, and Pompey the Great, and Black Antonio, and Julius Caesar, and Troilus, and the mighty King Gondar.’
‘Do not forget Jenny, sir.’
‘Jenny?’
‘The chestnut mare.’
‘Ah, yes! It was Jenny who conquered Nimbus.’
‘She was the maddest courtesan of them all.’
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About the Author
EDWARD MARSTON was born and brought up in South Wales. A full-time writer for over forty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and the theatre and is a former chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association. Prolific and highly successful, he is equally at home writing children’s books or literary criticism, plays or biographies.
www.edwardmarston.com
By Edward Marston
THE BRACEWELL MYSTERIES
The Queen’s Head • The Merry Devils • The Trip to Jerusalem
The Nine Giants • The Mad Courtesan • The Silent Woman
THE RAILWAY DETECTIVE SERIES
The Railway Detective • The Excursion Train
The Railway Viaduct • The Iron Horse
Murder on the Brighton Express • The Silver Locomotive Mystery
Railway to the Grave • Blood on the Line
The Railway Detective Omnibus:
The Railway Detective, The Excursion Train, The Railway Viaduct
THE CAPTAIN RAWSON SERIES
Soldier of Fortune • Drums of War • Fire and Sword
Under Siege • A Very Murdering Battle
THE RESTORATION SERIES
The King’s Evil • The Amorous Nightingale • The Repentant Rake
The Frost Fair • The Parliament House • The Painted Lady
THE HOME FRONT DETECTIVE SERIES
A Bespoke Murder • Instrument of Slaughter
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
12 Fitzroy Mews
www.allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain in 1992.
This ebook edition published by Allison & Busby in 2013.
Copyright © 1992 by EDWARD MARSTON
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1202–1