Ring of Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page A

King’s College, nothing remained but a charred memory of the New York he had known as a boy.
    Part of him wished he had never come home. If only this quest had taken him somewhere else, anywhere else.
    He drew a line around Rivington’s Corner at the bottom of Wall Street, home of the Royal Gazette . Though the paper didn’t have the stellar reputation of the New York Mercury , the newspaper’s office was a meeting place of officers eager to pass along tantalizing tidbits for the Gazette ’s owner to exaggerate before printing. They also had their favorite coffee shops, public houses, vendues…all of which he intended to frequent. Not so much to see who was speaking, but rather to discern who was listening.
    Were it not a holiday, he would head out again now. But alas.
    On a separate piece of paper, he made notes of the next places he intended to visit. The favored tailor of the officers, under the guise of needing a finer suit of clothes than his tenure in Connecticut had permitted. He’d stop in for coffee afterward at the shop owned by the same Rivington who ran the newspaper. Perhaps from there he would follow any gossip he heard to a few new locations, which he would then add to his map.
    Explore, discover, document.
    He rested his quill in its glass holder and flexed his frigid digits. His father’s old, large house was as drafty as it was impressive.
    â€œHallo, there! You home, Ben?” The muffled shout came from outside his front door.
    At least George was still in town. Smiling, Ben removed the weights to let the map roll back up and shoved his work into a drawer. He would take it all back up to his personal quarters later. “Coming.”
    â€œWell, hurry it up. My hands are full. Don’t you have a footman?”
    â€œâ€™Tis Christmas, you dunderhead. I gave him the day off.” Ben jogged to the entryway, wrenched open the door, and found his friend to be without exaggeration. He frowned at the stack of boxes and wrapped parcels in his arms. “What in blazes is all that?”
    George arched his brows, incredulous. “’Tis Christmas, you dunderhead. I have brought you a gift, and Mother sent a few treats for your supper. Are you sure you will not join us?”
    â€œAh.” He relieved George of half his burden and led the way to the table. “I cannot, but thank her for me. I will be at the Hamptons’.”
    He turned in time to catch George’s sneer. “Calling on Her Lady of Oh again, are you?”
    â€œHer lady of…George, where do you devise these things?”
    â€œDidn’t you see her face when I confessed I was not one of the Staten Island Knights? It was as if I ceased to exist. And never before in my life have I heard someone manage to contain a world of dismissals, disappointments, and judgments in a single ‘oh.’” He folded his arms over his chest, the very image of stubbornness.
    Ben loosed a long exhale, though a grin fought to burst forth. “You judge her too harshly.”
    Now George’s arms flew up. “I? I judge too harshly? Have you bothered to tell her ladyship that she judged me too harshly?”
    â€œHer ‘ladyship’ did not judge you at all.” And she hadn’t given him the chance to tell her anything in this past month. Other than exchanging basic civilities, she wouldn’t be budged from Colonel Fairchild’s side whenever they were in company.
    No need to let George know that, though.
    His friend leveled an accusing finger at his nose. “Do you know what has happened to you? I shall put it in terms you can understand. You are Odysseus, and she is your siren. You had better lash yourself to your ship, my friend, or face destruction on the rocks of her island. She may look the part of an enchantress, but she has no heart within her, as most anyone will tell you.”
    â€œAll this wisdom gained from seeing her across a crowded ballroom a