Chapter Eight
Ordinarily, Konrad detested paying morning calls.
The duty held little appeal. One made one’s reluctant way to somebody-or-other’s sumptuous house, made one’s bow, accepted one’s refreshments, offered the very smallest of polite small-talk for the allotted, say, quarter of an hour that etiquette dictated, and then took one’s leave. Only to repeat the procedure all over again at someone else’s house. Konrad knew he ought to be more dedicated a caller; the routine, drab as it was, at least served to maintain the web of connection, acquaintance and influence that some thought necessary. Some might think it especially necessary in his case, for times like these: when a nearer understanding of the doings of his social peers might have proved useful. He might already know who had
