Quentin could tell that he had delivered a blow to Gareth's pride. The question was going to be how the reporter would recover from it. The lord had a fairly decent guess that the reporter hadn't negotiated the details of the contract at first because Gareth had thought this a wild goose chase. But once the realization that there might be gold at the end of the rainbow came around then suddenly greed entered the equation. Of course, how much that greed would be satisfied would be determined by how well Gareth comported himself going forward. Quentin, hoping to salve the man's pride decides to offer some conciliation.

"I am not an unreasonable man Mister Scott, neith am I a miser. As such, I will let you know that you've already earned yourself an even ten shares for your help. Continue to be reasonable and you may very well earn yourself twenty-five shares of the commission by the end of this."

Of course, the commission would simply be the finders fee the museum paid. Which would still be quite a lot just not as much as they might have got from trying to sell to individual buyers. But Quentin was in this for the history more than the money. Cracking the tub he reads the scroll aloud.

"The last clue I hid under the jaws of the beasts that made this town."

Gareth took a deep breath, though inaudibly, as if to swell his chest to compensate for the decrease of his pride. "Aye ser," forgetting his 'proper' boarding school English for a moment. "Thank you."

Because telling Quentin to go to the Deuce was probably going to make him lose shares.

The clue was easy enough, but he pretended to think.

Good, she thought, Quentin gave the man the dressing down he deserved and she didn't have to call the reporter rude for his actions. Unfortunately, she had no idea what the clue meant and glanced at the man in question. Her eyes narrowed a little in suspicion, and she bit her tongue harder. Hoping he didn't catch her glare, she forced her face into a neutral expression.

"Hrmmm." Quentin says stroking his chin, Gareth was right this one was a bit on the easier side. Maybe because when the clue was hidden the jawbone would have still been brand new. "You think it's the whale bone arch on the cliff?"

Well. Shite.

"Could be..." he admitted.

Now the man was being insufferable! Her lips flattened and she stalked back toward the two, cutting her eyes toward Gareth and making it obvious now. "Will you stop being a child already?" She wanted to swat the man on the head. "I think what he means is, 'Yes, sir,'" she ground out toward Quentin, impatient now and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Aye, the one landmark that you can see from the harbour," Quentin says with a snort as he gets to his feet. "Mister Scott is fine Miss Devereaux. It won't be the first or the last time someone realized they should have taken me seriously form the start."

[Content warning: Sexism]

Gareth's eyes flashed to Claire and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. What exactly was her problem? No but really, what was her problem? Some lady who couldn't find a husband and didn't know how to stay at home, or something. And now she had to meddle into something that wasn't her business. He wasn't going to let someone mock him, least of all a woman. "What did I do?" he snapped at her, Quentin's subtle burn only making him angrier. "Is it even your business?"

She was about to calm herself down at Quentin's words, and she opened her mouth to reply to that one when Mister Scott ripped into her. She turned back to him and planted her hands on her hips, not impressed by the hot air he was blowing out.

"Did I say one thing about you whining about the money? If I recall correctly, I walked away so you could do just that without me interjecting. I was speaking about the way you're being petulant over a stupid clue just because your feelings got hurt over some money. If the money is that important to you, I will pay you just so you can stop acting like a child! Now if you are done, I would like to get back to the business at hand. Sir." There was much acid in the way she called him sir. And that was the end of it. She would drop it because she was a lady and didn't feel like arguing.

She turned to Quentin then and looked like she was trying to calm down. She stepped over so he was between her and the dumb reporter. Her lips were flat but she was silent again. Clearly, the little pukey man had touched a nerve.

"Enough, both of you."

Quentin snaps out the words with a sharp bark, the voice of a captain of her majesty's armed forces.

"Neither of you are children so I will not chastise you like you are. Let us simply continue the hunt in a professional manner."

Honestly, Gareth was being a bit petulant but Quentin knew picking a side would just make matters worse. Better to just tell them both to stop in a way that burked no further disagreement.