Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

Hugh undressed for bed but he felt far from sleepy, so he sat up in his dressing gown, staring into the fire, brooding. He went over and over the bank's situation in his mind, but he could think of no way to ameliorate it. Yet he could not stop thinking.

At midnight he heard a loud, determined knocking at the front door. He went downstairs in his nightclothes to answer it. There was a carriage at the curb and a liveried footman on the doorstep. The man said: "I beg pardon for knocking so late, sir, but the message is urgent." He handed over an envelope and left.

As Hugh closed the door his butler came down the stairs. "Is everything all right, sir?" he said worriedly.

"Just a message," Hugh said. "You can go back to bed."

"Thank you, sir."

Hugh opened the envelope and saw the neat, old-fashioned writing of a fussy elderly man. The words made his heart leap with joy.

12, Piccadilly

London, S.W.

November 23rd, 1890

Dear Pilaster,

On further reflection I have decided to consent to your proposal. Yours, etc.

B. Greenbourne.

He looked up from the letter and grinned at the empty hall. "Well, I'll be blowed," he said delightedly. "I wonder what made the old man change his mind?"

Section 4

AUGUSTA SAT IN THE BACK ROOM of the best jeweler's shop in Bond Street. Bright gaslights flared, making the jewelry glitter in the glass cases. The room was full of mirrors. An obsequious assistant padded across the room and placed in front of her a black velvet cloth bearing a diamond necklace.

The manager of the shop was standing beside her. "How much?" she asked him.

"Nine thousand pounds, Lady Whitehaven." He breathed the price piously, like a prayer.

The necklace was simple and stark, just a plain row of identical large square-cut diamonds set in gold. It would look very striking against her black widow's gowns, she thought. But she was not buying it to wear.

"It's a wonderful piece, my lady; quite the loveliest thing we have in the shop."

"Don't rush me, I'm thinking," she replied.

This was her last desperate attempt to raise money. She had tried going openly to the bank and demanding a hundred pounds in gold sovereigns: the clerk, an insolent dog called Mulberry, had refused her. She had tried to have the house transferred from Edward's name into her own, but that had not worked either: the deeds were in the safe of old Bodwin, the bank's lawyer, and he had been got at by Hugh. Now she was going to try to buy diamonds on credit and sell them for cash.