Hugh shook hands with all of them and accepted a glass of sherry. He looked around at the portraits of previous Senior Partners on the walls. "Six years ago in this room I sold Sir John Cammel a hundred thousand pounds' worth of Russian government bonds," he remembered.
"So you did," said Samuel.
"Pilasters' commission on that sale, at five percent, still amounts to more than I've been paid in the entire eight years I've worked for the bank," he said with a smile.
Joseph said tetchily: "I hope you're not asking for a rise in salary. You're already the highest-paid employee in the entire firm."
"Except the partners," said Hugh.
"Naturally," Joseph snapped.
Hugh perceived that he had got off to a bad start. Too eager, as always, he told himself. Slow down. "I'm not asking for a rise," he said. "However, I do have a proposition to put to the partners."
Samuel said: "You'd better sit down and tell us about it."
Hugh put his drink down untasted and gathered his thoughts. He desperately wanted them to agree to his proposition. It was both the culmination and the proof of his triumph over adversity. It would bring more business to the bank at one stroke than most partners could attract in a year. And if they agreed they would be more or less obliged to make him a partner.
"Boston is no longer the financial center of the United States," he began. "New York's the place now. We really ought to move our office. But there's a snag. A good deal of the business I've done in the last six years has been undertaken jointly with the New York house of Madler and Bell. Sidney Madler rather took me under his wing when I was green. If we moved to New York we'd be in competition with them."
"Nothing wrong with competition, where appropriate," Major Hartshorn asserted. He rarely had anything of value to contribute to a discussion, but rather than stay silent he would state the obvious in a dogmatic way.
"Perhaps. But I've got a better idea. Why not merge our North American operation with Madler and Bell?"
"Merge?" said Hartshorn. "What do you mean?"
"Set up a joint venture. Call it Madler, Bell and Pilaster. It would have an office in New York and one in Boston."
"How would it work?"
"The new house would deal with all the import-export financing currently done by both separate houses, and the profits would be shared. Pilasters would have the chance to participate in all new issues of bonds and stocks marketed by Madler and Bell. I would handle that business from London."
