The men stayed in the dining room to smoke and Augusta took the ladies upstairs to her bedroom. There she got Lady Morte alone for a few minutes. Fifteen years older than Augusta, Harriet Morte was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. She had iron-gray hair and a superior manner. Like Arnold Hobbes and Michael Fortescue, she had influence; and Augusta hoped that, like them, she would be corruptible. Hobbes and Fortescue were vulnerable because they were poor. Lord and Lady Morte were not so much poor as improvident: they had plenty of money, but they spent more than they had. Lady Morte's gowns were splendid and her jewelry was magnificent, and Lord Morte believed, against the evidence of forty years, that he had a good eye for a racehorse.
Augusta was more nervous about Lady Morte than she had been about the men. Women were more difficult. They would not take anything at face value and they knew when they were being manipulated. Thirty years as a courtier would have refined Lady Morte's sensibility to the point where nothing could slip by her.
Augusta began by saying: "Mr. Pilaster and I are such admirers of the dear queen."
Lady Morte nodded, as if to say Of course. However, there was no of course about it: Queen Victoria was disliked by much of the nation for being withdrawn, staid, remote and inflexible.
Augusta went on: "If there were ever anything we could do to help you with your noble duties, we would be thrilled."
"How very kind." Lady Morte looked a little puzzled. She hesitated, then decided to ask. "But what could you possibly do?"
"What do bankers do? They lend." Augusta lowered her voice. "Court life must be cripplingly expensive, I imagine."
Lady Morte stiffened. There was a taboo on talking about money in her class and Augusta was breaking it flagrantly.
But Augusta plowed on. "If you were to open an account with Pilasters, there would never be any problems in that area...."
Lady Morte was offended, but on the other hand she was being offered the remarkable privilege of unlimited credit at one of the largest banks in the world. Her instincts told her to snub Augusta, but greed held her back: Augusta could read the conflict in her face.
