Page 83 of These Old Lies
Changing his position on gas in exchange for “personal favours” was the sort of tidy gentlemen’s agreement which had formed the basis of governing England for centuries.
If Ned could stomach it.
“The trout not to your liking?” Ned’s father brought him back to the dinner table and the new plates in front of them.
“Cook has outdone herself this year.” Ned forced a forkful into his mouth.
“I agree.” His father cut himself an admirable bite. “Now, how many rude jokes do you think I can get Mr Tauton to make before your mother notices?”
???
After dinner, Ned’s parents retired for the evening and the rest of the party retreated to the library for the obligatory port. A bright fire burned, casting a golden light across the walls of books.
“Charlie, it's been far too long.” Sophie lounged on the sofa with her brother, swirling her drink in her hand.
Ned looked over from his spot in the leather wingback chairs to where Charlie was leaning against the mantle, jacket askew. “It's all work and no play for both Ned and I at the moment.” It was an odd answer from Charlie, who normally didn’t play word games.
“We must get you to come out a bit more,” Freddy responded. “Even with the war, there’s fun to be had in London. I’ll take you out to this new club off of the Strand. Very tasteful, nothing too gaudy, very selective. The right sort of men, you know?”
The invitation was extended to the whole room, but Freddy’s gaze was fixed firmly on Hugh.
“Now the Blitz has eased off a bit, it’s much safer to meet.” Ned also tried to meet Hugh’s eyes, wanting to let him know he wasn’t excluded.
“You’re all a bit too late with your preaching on how to be a respectable homosexual,” Hugh snapped from where he was slouched deeply in one of the leather chairs. “Such upstanding men of society you all are, never attracting unwanted attention to your inversion.”
The room went still. What was one to say in response? Hugh wasn’t wrong.
“How could you have been so stupid?” Charlie’s accent was as dissonant as the blunt question.
Freddy, Sophie, and Ned all started to object, but Charlie held up his hand and continued. “I mean, Hugh’s a vain twat, but not an idiot. After all, you’ve never been arrested before. So I ask again, how could this have happened?”
Hugh cocked his head and looked at Charlie like he was an interesting specimen in the zoo. “I was drunk and needed to piss. A chap strolled in after me in the toilets and asked me to suck his cock. I was arrested about two minutes later.”
Ned froze his hand midway to his lips for a sip of port. “You mean you were propositioned?”
“I seized the day, and then found it had rather seized me in return.”
Charlie turned to look at Ned, eyebrow quirked. “I’ve been asking around, and it seems quite a few chaps have been picked up for gross indecency at the moment. The same story—drunk, public toilets, propositioned, and immediately arrested. Funnily enough, the man they were with never seems to be listed in the dockets.”
“Entrapment?” Sophie took the words right out of Ned’s mouth. “Is there any proof?”
Charlie shrugged. “From what I can see, no one has bothered to find out.”
“The details are purely academic. Ned is going to arrange for the charges to be dismissed.” Freddy reached out as if to take Hugh’s hand. “All will be done and forgotten before you know it.”
Ned’s heart raced, even as he tried to reassure himself that changing his support to advocate the use of gas by the Allies wouldn’t shift the course of history by any means. Being prosecuted would change the course of Hugh’s life.
“For fuck’s sake.” Charlie cut across the conversation again. “Hugh, you have access to wealth, power, and privilege. A man like you could take an entrapment scheme to court and get the whole thing dismantled. Yet you don’t. You would rather rely on your cronies to bend the law for you.”
The fire crackled into the silence as they all gaped at Charlie’s words. Hugh alone remained unreadable, smoking yet another cigarette, using his port glass as an ashtray.
When he did speak, his accent completely shifted, becoming barely recognisable to Ned. “I clawed my way into polite society once, and that was mostly due to luck and looks. Both of which have run out. I’ve no desire to find out whether life as the catamite third son of a tenant farmer got any better over the past quarter century.”
“Wouldn't have picked you as a Geordie.” Charlie managed his surprise better than Ned or the shocked Tautons on the sofa. Or perhaps Charlie had seen something in Hugh that Ned had never noticed. “Pass a bloke a smoke, will you?”
“I haven’t been ‘from the north’ in a long time. Not since I’ve had this name.” Hugh’s rougher accent stayed in place as he lit a cigarette for Charlie. “The power and privilege? I fought for it. You should understand that, not like the rest of them in this room. I don’t intend to lose what I got.”
“So then don’t.” Charlie’s own accent had also become considerably harsher. “Most rich poofters would lose if put in front of a judge with these types of charges. But a desperate son of a bitch who needs to put on the show of his life? There would be a line around the block to watch. Are you an actor or not? Convince your fucking audience.”