Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

"Dear Mrs. Pilaster, as perceptive as always. Why do I ever imagine I can hide anything from you?" He released her hand and took his tea. "Yes, I'm a little tense about the Santamaria railroad."

"I thought the partners had agreed to that."

"They have, but these things take so long to organize."

"The financial world moves slowly."

"I understand that, but my family doesn't. Papa sends me cables weekly. I curse the day the telegraph reached Santamaria."

Edward came in bursting with news. "Antonio Silva's back!" he said before he had closed the door behind him.

Augusta paled. "How do you know?"

"Hugh saw him."

"That's a blow," she said, and Micky was surprised to see that her hand was shaking as she put down her cup and saucer.

"And David Middleton is still asking questions," said Micky, recalling Middleton's conversation with Hugh at the duchess of Tenbigh's ball. Micky was pretending to be worried, but in truth he was not altogether displeased. He liked to have Edward and Augusta reminded, from time to time, of the guilty secret they all shared.

"It's not just that," Edward said. "Antonio's trying to sabotage the Santamaria railroad bond issue."

Micky frowned. Tonio's family had opposed the railway scheme back home in Cordova, but they had been overruled by President Garcia. What could Tonio possibly do here in London?

The same question occurred to Augusta. "How can he do anything?"

Edward handed his mother a sheaf of papers. "Read that."

Micky said: "What is it?"

"An article Tonio plans to publish in The Times about your family's nitrate mines."

Augusta skimmed the pages rapidly. "He claims that life as a nitrate miner is unpleasant and dangerous," she said derisively. "Who ever supposed it was a garden party?"

Edward said: "He also reports that women are flogged and children shot for disobedience."

She said: "But what has this to do with your bond issue?"

"The railway is to carry nitrate to the capital. Investors don't like anything controversial. Many of them will already be wary of a South American bond. Something like this could scare them off completely."

Micky was shaken. This sounded like very bad news. He asked Edward: "What does your father say about all this?"

"We're trying to get another bank to come in with us on the deal, but basically we're going to let Tonio publish and see what happens. If the publicity causes a crash in South American stocks we'll have to abandon the Santamaria railroad."