"Wonderful!" said Augusta. But Fortescue had an uncomfortable expression, not at all like the bringer of glad tidings. "So why do you look so glum?" she said uneasily.
"There's also bad news," Fortescue said, and suddenly he looked a little frightened.
"What?"
"I'm afraid he wants to give the peerage to Ben Greenbourne."
"No!" Augusta felt as if she had been punched. "How can that be?"
Fortescue became defensive. "I suppose he can give peerages to whomever he pleases. He is the prime minister."
"But I didn't go to all this trouble for the benefit of Ben Greenbourne!"
"I agree it's ironic," Fortescue said languidly. "But I did my best."
"Don't be so smug," she snapped. "Not if you want my help in future elections."
Rebellion flashed in his eyes, and for a moment she thought she had lost him, thought he was going to say that he had repaid the debt and now he no longer needed her; but then he dropped his gaze and said: "I assure you I'm devastated by this news--"
"Be quiet, let me think," she said, and she began to pace up and down the little room. "We must find a way to change the prime minister's mind.... We must make it into a scandal. What are Ben Greenbourne's weaknesses? His son is married to a guttersnipe, but that's not really enough...." It occurred to her that if Greenbourne got a title it would be inherited by his son Solly, which would mean that Maisie would eventually be a countess. The thought was sickening. "What are Greenbourne's politics?"
"None known."
She looked at the young man and saw that he was sulking. She had spoken too harshly to him. She sat down beside him and took one of his big hands in both her own. "Your political instincts are remarkable, in fact that's what first made me notice you. Tell me what your guess would be."
Fortescue melted immediately, as men generally did when she took the trouble to be nice to them. "If pressed he would probably be Liberal. Most businessmen are Liberal, and so are most Jews. But as he has never expressed any opinion publicly, it will be hard to make him out to be an enemy of the Conservative government--"
"He's a Jew," Augusta said. "That's the key."
Fortescue looked dubious. "The prime minister himself is a Jew by birth, and he has now been made Lord Beaconsfield."
"I know, but he's a practicing Christian. Besides ..."
Fortescue raised an inquiring eyebrow.
"I have instincts too," Augusta said. "Mine tell me that Ben Greenbourne's Jewishness is the key to it all."
"If there is anything I can do ..."
