Follett, Ken by Dangerous Fortune (UC)

Author:Dangerous Fortune (UC) [txt] [Fortune, Dangerous]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-07-29T09:32:19.466000+00:00

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THE DUCHESS OF TENBIGH'S COSTUME BALL was the first great event of the 1879 London season. Everyone was talking about it weeks in advance. Fortunes were spent on fancy dress, and people would go to any length to get an invita- tion. Augusta and Joseph Pilaster were not invited. That was hardly surprising: they did not belong in the very highest echelon of London society. But Augusta wanted to go, and she made up her mind she would be there. As soon as she heard about the ball she mentioned it to Harriet Morte, who responded by looking embarrassed and saying nothing. As a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, Lady Morte had great social power; and on top of that she was a distant cousin of the duchess of Tenbigh. But she did not offer to get Augusta invited. Augusta checked Lord Morte's account with PiIasters Bank and found that he had an overdraft of a thousand pounds. The next day he got a note asking him when he hoped to regularize the account. Augusta called on Lady Morte the same day. She apologized, saying that the note had been an error and the clerk who sent it had been sacked. Then she mentioned the ball again. Lady Morte's normally impassive face was momentarily animated by a glare of pure hatred as she understood the bargain that was being offered. Augusta was unmoved. She had no wish to be liked by Lady Morte, she just wanted to use her. And Lady Morte was confronted with a simple choice: exert her influence to get Augusta invited to the ball, or find a thousand pounds to pay off her overdraft. She took the easier option, and the invitation cards arrived the following day. Augusta was annoyed that Lady Morte had not helped her willingly. It was hurtful that Lady Morte had A DANGEROUS FORTUNE 297

to be coerced. Feeling spiteful, Augusta made her get Edward an invitation too. Augusta was going as Queen Elizabeth and Joseph as the earl of Leicester. On the night of the ball they had dinner at home and changed afterwards. When she was dressed Augusta went into Joseph's room to help him with his costume and talk to him about his nephew Hugh. She was incensed that Hugh was to be rnade a partner in the bank at the same time as Edward. Worse still, everyone knew that Edward had been made a partner only because he had married and been given a E250,000 investment in the bank, whereas Hugh was being made a partner because he had brought offa spectacularly profitable deal with Madlcr and Bell of New York. People were already talking of Hugh as a potential Senior Partner. The thought made Augusta grind her teeth. Their promotion was to take place at the end of April, when the annual partnership agreement was formally renewed. But earlier in the month, to Augusta's delight, Hugh made the unbelievably foolish mistake of marrying a plump little working-class girl from Camden Town.

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