Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

At Paddington Station he escorted her to the cab stand and helped her into a hansom. As they said goodbye she held his hands and said: "Come home with me."

He looked sad and shook his head.

"We love each other--we always have," she pleaded. "Come with me, and to hell with the consequences."

"But life is consequences, isn't it?"

"Hugh! Please!"

He withdrew his hands and stepped back. "Goodbye, dear Maisie."

She stared at him helplessly. Years of suppressed yearning caught up with her. If she had been strong enough she would have seized him and dragged him into the cab by force. She felt maddened by frustration.

She would have stayed there forever, but he nodded to the cabbie and said: "Drive on."

The man touched the horse with his whip, and the wheels turned.

A moment later Hugh was gone from her sight.

Section 3

HUGH SLEPT BADLY that night. He kept waking up and running over his conversation with Maisie. He wished he had given in and gone home with her. He could be sleeping in her arms now, his head on her breasts, instead of tossing and turning alone.

But something else was bothering him, too. He had a feeling she had said something momentous, something surprising and sinister, the significance of which had escaped him at the time. It still eluded him.

They had talked about the bank, and Edward's becoming Senior Partner; Edward's title; Emily's plan to seek an annulment; the night at Kingsbridge Manor when they had almost made love; the conflicting values of integrity and happiness.... Where was the momentous revelation?

He tried running over the conversation backwards: Come home with me.... People should grab happiness where they can.... Emily is about to ask Edward for an annulment.... Emily is Lady Whitehaven now.... Do you realize that if the title had gone to Ben Greenbourne, as it should have, Bertie would be in line to inherit it now?

No, he had missed something. Edward had got the title that should have gone to Ben Greenbourne--but Augusta had put a stop to all that. She had been behind all the nasty propaganda about whether a Jew could be a lord. Hugh had not realized that, although looking back he thought he should have been able to guess. But the Prince of Wales had known, somehow, and he had told Maisie and Solly.

Hugh turned over restlessly. Why should that be such a momentous revelation? It was just another example of Augusta's ruthlessness. It had been kept quiet at the time. But Solly had known....

Suddenly Hugh sat up in bed, staring into the darkness.