“Please?” he said. “Please?”
After a while he went away.
Maisie slept badly and woke early, but as the new day dawned her spirits lifted a little. Before the other guests were up she went along to the nursery wing as usual. Outside the door of the nursery dining room she stopped suddenly. She was not the first guest to rise, after all. She could hear a man’s voice inside. She paused and listened. It was Hugh.
He was saying: “And just at that moment, the giant woke up.”
There was a childish squeal of delighted terror that Maisie recognized as coming from Bertie.
Hugh went on: “Jack went down the beanstalk as fast as his legs could carry him — but the giant came after him!”
Kingo’s daughter Anne said in the superior voice of a knowing seven-year-old: “Bertie’s hiding behind his chair because he’s scared. I’m not scared.”
Maisie wanted to hide like Bertie, and she turned and began to walk back to her room, but she stopped again. She had to face Hugh sometime today, and here in the nursery might be the easiest place. She composed herself and went in.
Hugh had the three children enraptured. Bertie hardly saw his mother come in. Hugh looked up at Maisie with hurt in his eyes. “Don’t stop,” Maisie said, and she sat down by Bertie and hugged him.
Hugh returned his attention to the children. “And what do you think Jack did next?”
“I know,” said Anne. “He got an ax.”
“That’s right.”
Maisie sat there hugging Bertie, while Bertie stared big-eyed at the man who was his real father. If I can stand this, I can do anything, Maisie thought.
Hugh said: “And while the giant was still halfway up the beanstalk, Jack chopped it down! And the giant fell all the way to the earth … and died. And Jack and his mother lived happily ever after.”
Bertie said: “Tell it again.”
THE CORDOVAN MINISTRY was busy. Tomorrow was Cordovan Independence Day and there would be a big afternoon reception for members of Parliament, Foreign Office officials, diplomats and journalists. This morning, to add to his worries, Micky Miranda had received a stiff note from the British Foreign Secretary about two English tourists who had been murdered while exploring the Andes. But when Edward Pilaster called, Micky Miranda dropped everything, for what he had to say to Edward was much more important than either the reception or the note. He needed half a million pounds, and he was hoping to get the money from Edward.
Micky had been the Cordovan Minister for a year. Getting the job had required all his cunning, but it had also cost his family a fortune in bribes back home. He had promised Papa that all that money would return to the family, and now he had to make good his promise. He would rather die than let his father down.
He brought Edward into the minister’s chamber, a grand room dominated by a full-size Cordovan flag. He went to the big table and spread out a map of Cordova, weighing down the corners with his cigar case, the sherry decanter, a glass, and Edward’s gray top hat. He hesitated. It was the first time he had ever asked someone for half a million pounds.
“Here is Santamaria Province, in the north of the country,” he began.
“I do know the geography of Cordova,” Edward said peevishly.
“Of course you do,” said Micky in a soothing voice. It was true. Pilasters Bank did a healthy volume of business with Cordova, financing its exports of nitrate, salt beef and silver and its imports of mining equipment, guns and luxury goods. Edward handled all that business, thanks to Micky, who as attache and then minister had made life difficult for anyone who did not want to use Pilasters Bank to finance their trade with his country. In consequence Edward was now seen as the leading London expert on Cordova. “Of course you do,” Micky repeated. “And you know that all the nitrate mined by my father has to be transported by mule train from Santamaria to Palma. But what you may not know is that it is perfectly possible to build a railroad along that route.”
“How can you be sure? A railroad is a complicated thing.”
Micky took a bound volume from his desk. “Because my father commissioned a survey by a Scottish engineer, Gordon Halfpenny. All the details are in here — including the costs. Take a look.”
“How much?” Edward said.
“Five hundred thousand pounds.”
Edward riffled through the pages of the report. “What about politics?”
Micky glanced up at the big portrait of President Garcia in the uniform of commander-in-chief. Every time Micky looked at the picture he vowed that one day his own portrait would occupy that spot on the wall. “The president favors the idea. He believes it will strengthen his military grip on the countryside.” Garcia trusted Papa. Ever since Papa had become governor of Santamaria Province — with the help of two thousand Westley-Richards short-barreled rifles made in Birmingham — the Miranda family had been the president’s fervent supporters and close allies. Garcia did not suspect Papa’s motive for wanting a railway to Palma: it would enable the Miranda family to attack the capital within two days instead of two weeks.
“How will it be paid for?” said Edward.
“We’ll raise the money on the London market,” Micky said airily. “In fact I thought Pilasters Bank might like to have the business.” He tried to breathe slowly and normally. This was the climax of his long and painstaking cultivation of the Pilaster family: this was to be his reward for years of preparation.
But Edward shook his head and said: “I don’t think so.”
Micky was astonished and dismayed. At worst he had thought Edward would agree to think about it. “But you raise money for railroads all the time — I thought you’d be pleased to have the opportunity!”
“Cordova isn’t the same as Canada or Russia,” Edward said. “Investors don’t like your political setup, with every provincial caudillo having his own personal army. It’s medieval.”
Micky had not thought of that. “You floated Papa’s silver mine.” That had happened three years ago, and had brought Papa a useful hundred thousand pounds.
“Exactly! It turned out to be the only silver mine in South America that struggles to make a profit.”
In truth the mine was very rich, but Papa was skimming the profits off the top and leaving nothing for the shareholders. If only he had left a little margin for the sake of respectability! But Papa never listened to such counsel.
Micky fought down a panicky feeling, but his emotions must have shown on his face, for Edward said worriedly: “I say, old boy, is it terribly important? You look upset.”
“To tell you the truth, it would mean quite a lot to my family,” Micky admitted. He felt that Edward must be able to raise this money if he really wanted to; it could not be impossible. “Surely, if a bank with the prestige of Pilasters were to back the project, people would conclude that Cordova must be a good place to invest.”
“There’s something in that,” Edward said. “If one of the partners put the idea up, and really wanted to push it through, it could probably be done. But I’m not a partner.”
Micky had underestimated the difficulty of raising half a million pounds. But he was not beaten. He would find a way. “I’ll have to think again,” he said with forced cheerfulness.
Edward drained his sherry glass and stood up. “Shall we go to lunch?”
That night Micky and the Pilasters went to see H.M.S. Pinafore at the Opera Comique. Micky got there a few minutes early. While he was waiting in the foyer he ran into the Bodwin family, who were Pilaster hangers-on: Albert Bodwin was a lawyer who did a lot of work for the bank, and Augusta had once tried quite hard to get the daughter, Rachel Bodwin, to marry Hugh.
Micky’s mind was on the problem of raising the money for the railroad, but he flirted with Rachel Bodwin automatically, as he did with all girls and many married women. “And how is the movement for female emancipation, Miss Bodwin?”
Her mother blushed and said: “I wish you wouldn’t speak of it, Señor Miranda.”
“Then I shan’t, Mrs. Bodwin, for your wishes are to me as Acts of Parliament, legally binding.” He turned back to Rachel. She was not exactly pretty — her eyes were a little too close together — but she had a good figure: long legs, a narrow waist and a deep bust. In a sudden flash of fantasy he imagined her with her hands tied to the head of a bed and her naked legs spread, and he enjoyed the picture. Glancing up from her bosom he caught her eye. Most girls would have blushed and turned away, but she gave him a look of remarkable frankness and smiled, and it was he who felt embarrassed. Looking for something to talk about he said: “Did you know that our old friend Hugh Pilaster has returned from the colonies?”
“Yes, I saw him at Whitehaven House. You were there.”
“Ah yes, I forgot.”
“I always liked Hugh.”
But you didn’t want to marry him, Micky thought. Rachel had now been on offer in the marriage market for many years, and she was beginning to look like stale goods, he thought unkindly. Yet his instincts told him she was a deeply sexual person. Her problem was undoubtedly that she was too formidable. She frightened men off. But she must be getting desperate. Approaching thirty and still single, she would surely be wondering if she were doomed to the life of a spinster. Some women might contemplate that with equanimity, but not Rachel, Micky felt.
She was attracted to him, but then so was almost everyone, old and young, male and female. Micky liked it when rich and influential people fell for him, for it gave him power; but Rachel was nobody and her interest in him was valueless.