dress.'
He was probably enjoying the sight of Nora's legs, Augusta thought with distaste. It was so easy for such a woman to befuddle men's judgment. 'I just don't think she's fit to be the wife of a partner in Pilasters Bank.'
'Nora won't have to make any financial decisions.'
Augusta could have screamed with frustration. Evidently it was not enough that Nora was a working-class girl. She would have to do something unforgivable before Joseph and his partners would turn against Hugh.
Now there was a thought.
Augusta's anger died down as quickly as it had flared. Perhaps, she thought, there was a way she could get Nora into trouble. She looked up the stairs again and studied her prey.
Nora and Hugh were talking to the Hungarian attache, Count de Tokoly, a man of doubtful morals who was appropriately dressed as Henry VIII. Nora was just the kind of girl the count would be charmed by, Augusta thought biliously. Respectable ladies would cross the room to avoid speaking to him, but all the same he had to be invited everywhere because he was a senior diplomat. There was no sign of disapproval on Hugh's face as he watched his wife bat her eyelashes at the old roue. Indeed Hugh's expression showed nothing but adoration. He was still too much in love to find fault. That would not last. 'Nora is talking to de Tokoly,' Augusta murmured to Joseph. 'She had better take care of her reputation.'
'Now, don't you be rude to him,' Joseph replied brusquely. 'We're hoping to raise two million pounds for his government.'
Augusta did not care a straw for de Tokoly. She continued to brood about Nora. The girl was most vulnerable right now, when everything was unfamiliar and she had not had time to learn upper-class manners. If she could be brought to disgrace herself somehow tonight, preferably in front of the Prince of Wales ...
Just as she was thinking about the prince, a great cheer went up outside the house, indicating that the royal party had arrived.
A moment later the prince and Princess Alexandra came in, dressed as King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, followed by their entourage got up as knights in armor and medieval ladies. The band stopped abruptly in the middle of a Strauss waltz and struck up the national anthem. All the guests in the hall bowed and curtsied, and the queue on the staircase dipped like a wave as the royal party came up. The prince was getting fatter every year, Augusta thought as she curtsied to him. She was not sure whether there was any gray in his beard yet, but he was rapidly going bald on top. She always felt sorry for the pretty princess, who had a great deal to put up with from her spendthrift, philandering husband.
At the top of the stairs, the duke and duchess welcomed their royal guests and ushered them into the ballroom. The guests on the staircase surged forward to follow them.
Inside the long ballroom, masses of flowers from the hothouse at the Tenbigh's country home were banked up all around the walls, and the light from a thousand candles glittered back from the tall mirrors between the windows. The footmen handing round champagne were dressed as Elizabethan courtiers in doublet and hose. The prince and princess were ushered to a dais at the end of the room. It had been arranged that some of the more spectacular costumes should pass in front of the royal party in procession, and as soon as the royals were seated the first group came in from the salon. A crush formed near the dais, and Augusta found herself shoulder-to-shoulder with Count de Tokoly.
'What a delightful girl your nephew's wife is, Mrs. Pilaster,' he said.
Augusta gave him a frosty smile. 'How generous you are to say so, Count.'
He raised an eyebrow. 'Do I detect a note of dissent? No doubt you would have preferred young Hugh to choose a bride from his own class.'
'You know the answer to that without my telling you.'
'But her charm is irresistible.'
'Doubtless.'
'I shall ask her to dance later on. Do you think she will accept?'
Augusta could not resist an acid retort. 'I am sure of it. She is not fastidious.' She turned away. No doubt it was too much to hope for that Nora would cause some kind of incident with the count--
She was suddenly inspired.
The count was the critical factor. If she put him together with Nora the combination could be explosive.
Her mind was racing. Tonight was a perfect opportunity. She had to do it now.
Feeling a little breathless with excitement, Augusta looked around, spotted Micky, and went over to him. 'There's something I want you to do for me, now, quickly,' she said.
Micky gave her a knowing look. 'Anything,' he murmured.
She ignored the innuendo. 'Do you know Count de Tokoly?'
'Indeed. All we diplomats know one another.'
'Tell him that Nora is no better than she ought to be.'
Micky's mouth curled in a half-smile. 'Just that?'
'You may elaborate if you wish.'
'Should I hint that I know this from, let us say, personal experience?'
This conversation was transgressing the boundaries of propriety, but Micky's idea was a good one and she nodded. 'Even better.'
'You know what he will do?' Micky said.
'I trust he will make an indecent suggestion to her.'
'If that's what you want....'
'Yes.'
Micky nodded. 'I am your slave, in this as in all things.'
Augusta waved the compliment aside impatiently: she was too tense to listen to facetious gallantry. She looked for Nora and saw her staring around in wonderment at the lavish decor and the extravagant costumes: the girl had never seen anything like this in her life. She was quite off guard. Without further reflection Augusta made her way through the crowd to Nora's side.
She spoke into her ear. 'A word of advice.'
'Much obliged for it, I'm sure,' Nora said.
Hugh had presumably given Nora a malevolent account of Augusta's character, but to the girl's credit she showed no sign of hostility. She appeared not to have made up her mind about Augusta, and was neither warm nor cold to her.
Augusta said: 'I noticed you talking to Count de Tokoly.'
'A dirty old man,' Nora said immediately.
Augusta winced at her vulgarity but pressed on. 'Be careful of him, if you value your reputation.'
'Be careful?' Nora said. 'What do you mean, exactly?'
'Be polite, of course--but whatever happens, don't let him take any liberties. The least
