watched his expression change from rage, through anxiety and comprehension, to despair.
She fought to conceal a victorious smile. She had what she wanted: she had won. Later Joseph might regret his pronouncement but it was most unlikely he would withdraw it--he was too proud.
'So that's it,' Hugh said at last, and he was looking at Augusta rather than Joseph. To her surprise she saw that he was close to tears. 'Very well, Augusta. You win. I don't know how it was done but I've no doubt you provoked this incident somehow.' He turned to Joseph. 'But you ought to reflect on it, Uncle Joseph. You should think about who genuinely cares about the bank ...' He looked again at Augusta and finished: 'And who are its real enemies.'
Section 3
THE NEWS OF HUGH'S FALL spread around the City in hours. By the following afternoon, people who had clamored to see him with money-making schemes for railways, steel mills, shipyards and suburban housing were canceling their appointments. In the bank, clerks who had venerated him now regarded him as just another manager. He found he could go into a coffeehouse in the streets around the Bank of England without immediately attracting a cluster of people eager to know his views on the Grand Trunk Railroad, the price of Louisiana bonds and the American national debt.
Within the Partners' Room there was a row. Uncle Samuel had been indignant when Joseph announced that Hugh could not be made a partner. However, Young William had sided with his brother Joseph, and Major Hartshorn did the same, so Samuel was outvoted.
It was Jonas Mulberry, the bald, lugubrious Principal Clerk, who told Hugh what had happened between the partners. 'I must say I regret the decision, Mr. Hugh,' he said with evident sincerity. 'When you worked under me as a youngster you never tried to blame your mistakes on me--unlike certain other family members I have dealt with in the past.'
'I wouldn't have dared, Mr. Mulberry,' said Hugh with a smile.
Nora cried for a week. Hugh refused to blame her for what had happened. No one had forced him to marry her: he had to take responsibility for his own decisions. If his family had any decency they would stand by him in such a crisis, but he had never been able to count on them for that kind of support.
When Nora got over her upset she became rather unsympathetic, revealing a hard- hearted side that surprised Hugh. She could not understand the significance of the partnership to him. He realized, with a sense of disappointment, that she was not very good at imagining other people's feelings. He thought it must be because she had grown up poor and motherless, and had been forced to put her own interests first all her life. Although he was a little shaken by her attitude, he forgot about it every night when they climbed into the big soft bed together in their nightwear and made love.
Hugh's resentment grew inside him like an ulcer, but he now had a wife, a big new house and six servants to support, so he had to stay on at the bank. He had been given his own room, on the floor above the Partners' Room, and he put a big map of North America on the wall. Every Monday morning he wrote a summary of the previous week's North American business and cabled it to Sidney Madler in New York. On the second Monday after the duchess of Tenbigh's ball, in the telegraph office on the ground floor, he met a stranger, a dark-haired man of about twenty-one. Hugh smiled and said: 'Hullo, who are you?'
'Simon Oliver,' the man said in an accent that sounded vaguely Spanish.
'You must be new here,' Hugh said, and stuck out his hand. 'I'm Hugh Pilaster.'
'How do you do,' Oliver said. He seemed rather sulky.
'I work on North American loans,' Hugh said. 'What about you?'
'I'm clerk to Mr. Edwatd.'
Hugh made a connection. 'Are you from South America?'
'Yes, Cordova.'
That made sense. As Edward's specialty was South America in general and Cordova in particular, it could be useful to have a native of that country to work with him, especially as Edward did not speak Spanish. 'I was at school with the Cordovan Minister, Micky Miranda,' Hugh said. 'You must know him.'
'He is my cousin.'
'Ah.' There was no family resemblance, but Oliver was immaculately groomed, his well-tailored clothes pressed and brushed, his hair oiled and combed, his shoes shiny: no doubt he modeled himself on his successful older cousin. 'Well, I hope you enjoy working with us.'
'Thank you.'
Hugh was thoughtful as he returned to his own office on the next floor up. Edward needed all the help he could get, but Hugh was a little bothered at having a cousin of Micky's in such a potentially influential position at the bank.
His unease was vindicated a few days later.
Once again it was Jonas Mulberry who told him what was going on in the Partners' Room. Mulberry came into Hugh's room with a schedule of payments the bank had to make in London on behalf of the U.S. government, but his real reason was to talk. His spaniel face was longer than ever as he said: 'I don't like it, Mr. Hugh. South American bonds have never been good.'
'We're not launching a South American bond, are we?'
Mulberry nodded. 'Mr. Edward proposed it and the partners have agreed.'
'What's it for?'
'A new railroad from the capital city, Palma, to Santamaria Province.'
'Where the provincial governor is Papa Miranda....'
'The father of Mr. Edward's friend Senor Miranda.'
'And the uncle of Edward's clerk Simon Oliver.'
Mulberry shook his head disapprovingly. 'I was a clerk here when the Venezuelan government defaulted on its bonds fifteen years ago. My father, God rest his soul, could remember the Argentine default of 1828. And look at Mexican bonds--they pay dividends now and again. Whoever heard of bonds that paid out now and again?'
Hugh nodded. 'Anyway, investors who like railroads can get five and six percent on their money in the United States--why go to Cordova?'
'Exactly.'
Hugh scratched his head. 'Well, I'll try to find out what they're thinking about.'
Mulberry flourished a bundle of papers. 'Mr. Samuel asked for a summary of liabilities on Far East acceptances. You could take the figures to him.'
Hugh grinned. 'You think of everything.' He took the papers and went down to the Partners' Room.
Only Samuel and Joseph were there. Joseph was dictating letters to a shorthand writer and Samuel was poring over a map of China. Hugh put the report on Samuel's table and said: 'Mulberry asked me to give you this.'
'Thank you.' Samuel looked up and smiled. 'Something else on your mind?'
'Yes. I'm wondering why we're backing the Santamaria railroad.'
Hugh heard Joseph pause in his dictation, then resume.
