point Hal, as passionate with his humor as he was with his rage, had burst forth a powerful and grainy guffaw which had sprayed the chessboard with frothy drops of beer…

…and despite Christopher’s fervent agitation over the soggy state of his chessboard the two of them had entered into a solid state of male bonding otherwise known as true friendship – whether they liked it or not!

Of course, it was a mutual friendship based upon mutual selfishness.

Christopher’s selfish participation in their camaraderie was far from egocentric, however, and it could almost be explained away as just a sophisticated form of servitude.  He had been formally trained to be a valet, a gentleman’s gentleman if you will, and after Nigel Bancroft’s demise had left him...

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