Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

Pilasters has crashed.

Hugh buried his face in his hands.

Section 2

"WE ARE ALL absolutely penniless," said Hugh.

They did not understand, at first. He could tell by their faces.

They gathered in the drawing room of his house. It was a cluttered room, decorated by his wife, Nora, who loved to drape every stick of furniture with flowered fabrics and crowd every surface with ornaments. The guests had gone, at last--Hugh had not told anyone the bad news until the party was over--but the family were still in their wedding finery. Augusta sat with Edward, both of them wearing scornful, disbelieving expressions. Uncle Samuel sat next to Hugh. The other partners, Young William, Major Hartshorn and Sir Harry, stood behind a sofa on which sat their wives Beatrice, Madeleine and Clementine. Nora, flushed from lunch and champagne, sat in her usual chair beside the fire. The bride and groom, Nick and Dotty, held hands, looking frightened.

Hugh felt most sorry for the newlyweds. "Dotty's dowry is gone, Nick. I'm afraid all our plans have come to nothing."

Aunt Madeleine said shrilly: "You're the Senior Partner--it must be your fault!"

She was being stupid and malicious. It was a predictable reaction, yet all the same Hugh was wounded. It was so unfair that she should blame him after he had fought so hard to prevent this.

However, William, her younger brother, corrected her with surprising sharpness. "Don't talk rot, Madeleine," he said. "Edward deceived us all and burdened the bank with huge amounts of Cordova bonds which are now worthless." Hugh was grateful to him for being honest. William went on: "The blame lies with those of us who let him become Senior Partner." He looked at Augusta.

Nora looked bewildered. "We can't be penniless," she said.

"But we are," Hugh said patiently. "All our money is in the bank and the bank has failed." There was some excuse for his wife's not understanding: she had not been born into a banking family.

Augusta stood up and went to the fireplace. Hugh wondered whether she would try to defend her son, but she was not that foolish. "Never mind whose fault it is," she said. "We must salvage what we can. There must be quite a lot of cash in the bank still, gold and bank notes. We must get it out and hide it somewhere safe before the creditors move in. Then--"

Hugh interrupted her. "We'll do no such thing," he said sharply. "It's not our money."

"Of course it's our money!" she cried.

"Be quiet and sit down, Augusta, or I'll have the footmen throw you out."