Zechariah looked down at his drink as though it had lost its appeal. A man could not help his tastes, he supposed, but there was still that innate, self-preserving repulsion to touching anything Chris' mouth had been on.

"Carrington," he said brightly, remembering mention of their wealth. "Carrington," he repeated with a frown as he also remembered an unsettling fellow Chris pointed out at some party.

His eyes wandered to Darius' hands, and then his face again.

Young enough to be a bachelor, just as the rest of them were. New money, not unlike Zechariah's family.

But, as Chris had crudely put it - not 'kosher'. Besides, he was probably a proper gentleman. There was one last drunken wistful look Darius' way before Zechariah turned to John.