Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

He hesitated only for a second. "I think you should be Senior Partner, Hugh," he said.

"Major Hartshorn?"

"I agree."

"Sir Harry?"

"Certainly--and I hope you'll accept."

It was done. Hugh could hardly believe it.

He took a deep breath. "Thank you for your confidence. I will accept. I hope I can bring us all through this calamity with our reputation and our fortunes intact."

At that moment Edward came in.

There was a dismayed silence. They had been discussing him almost as if he were dead, and it was a shock to see him in the room.

At first he did not notice the atmosphere. "This whole place is in turmoil," he said. "Juniors running around, senior clerks whispering in the corridors, hardly anyone doing any work--what the devil is going on?"

Nobody spoke.

Consternation spread over his face, then a look of guilt. "What's wrong?" he said, but his expression told Hugh that he could guess. "You'd better tell me why you're all staring at me," he persisted. "After ail, I am the Senior Partner."

"No, you're not," said Hugh. "I am."

Chapter THREE

NOVEMBER

Section 1

MISS DOROTHY PILASTER married Viscount Nicholas Ipswich at Kensington Methodist Hall on a cold, bright morning in November. The service was simple though the sermon was long. Afterwards a lunch of hot consomme, Dover sole, roast grouse and peach sherbet was served to three hundred guests in a vast heated tent in the garden of Hugh's house.

Hugh was very happy. His sister was radiantly beautiful and her new husband was charming to everyone. But the happiest person there was Hugh's mother. Smiling beatifically, she sat beside the groom's father, the duke of Norwich. For the first time in twenty-four years she was not wearing black: she had on a blue-gray cashmere outfit that set off her thick silver hair and calm gray eyes. Her life had been blighted by his father's suicide, and she had suffered years of scrimping poverty, but now in her sixties she had everything she wanted. Her beautiful daughter was Viscountess Ipswich and would one day be the duchess of Norwich, and her son was rich and successful and the Senior Partner of Pilasters Bank. "I used to think I had been unlucky," she murmured to Hugh in between courses. "I was wrong." She put her hand on his arm in a gesture like a blessing. "I'm very fortunate." It made Hugh want to cry.