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If there was going to be a treaty with France, it had to take into account the way that treaty would affect English farlish noblemen, and their penchant for French brandy and French silk--he cast an affectionate glance at the ribbed twill of his coat--but English farle, who farle had the de vil of a tiht children and the price of bread

Fletch thought about it, started a paragraph, threw it away

The Duke of Beauiven him a bit of advice one day: that if he truly wanted to obliterate an opponent, the key was to create a story that would catch everyone’s attention Higgle could be his story

He started again, crue when he was nearly to the end, threw it away

Finally he started over again, just talking about Higgle The way the round The way he had all his children working in the fields with hio to the village schoolThe fact that he received less than a penny for ten pounds of wheat, but then had to pay seven pence for a loaf of bread

By the tirow in the es And what’sat the paper, though it helped to write it down It was simple, it was clear, and by God, it was powerful

Just then Poppy came around the corner He leapt to his feet His wife looked as if she’d been in a fight Her pink polonaise goas streaked with brown ses, and the lace hem was torn "What the hell happened?" His voice echoed around the marble entry

She blinked up at him, and he realized instantly that she was unharement; he’d never seen her so disheveled Even when they’d made love she’d kept her head still so her curls weren’t rumpled

Museums seemed to be the exception to that rule

"Mr Munson let me see the collections that Captain Cook sent back froe Even the ones in the base squirrels?" Fletch tried to brush a black smear from Poppy’s shoulder

"There’s an anie rat," she told him

Fletch handed Mr Munson a purse while Poppy wasn’t looking He’d never seen her so excited Her excitement had a terrible effect on his body; he was about to burst out of his breeches Luckily, Poppy never paid the faintest attention to his body It was just that her hair was flying, and her eyes were bubbling with excitement Her cheeks were pink, just a soft rosy color on top of her cheekbones that made him want to kiss her there, andat hiht, Fletch?"

"Your maid will have an apoplectic fit when she sees you I was just thinking about that"

"The odd thing," Poppy said, ignoring the question ofin a pouch"

"What?"

"It’s called a possuh Captain Cook apparently decided it was in the faently

"I don’t agree," Poppy said "I shall write Dr Loudan ih its head rese’s, the pouch puts it in an entirely different species Do you seeher into the carriage

"The Dog and the Partridge," he told his coachhtness about it, given Poppy’s subject of conversation

When he got inside the carriage, Poppy was still talking about the dog In fact, he didn’t think she’d stopped for a ested that the ani would eat an orange"