A few minutes later his butler came out. "Mr. Mulberry from the bank is on the telephone, sir, asking for you."
"I can't speak now!" Hugh said irritably.
"Very good, sir." The butler turned away.
"No, wait a minute," Hugh said. Mulberry knew Hugh would be in the middle of the wedding breakfast. He was an intelligent and responsible man. He would not insist on speaking to Hugh unless something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Hugh felt a chill of fear.
"I'd better speak to him," he said. He stood up, saying: "Please excuse me, Mother, Your Grace--something I have to attend to."
He hurried out of the tent, across the lawn and into the house. The telephone was in his library. He picked up the instrument and said: "Hugh Pilaster speaking."
He heard the voice of his clerk. "It's Mulberry, sir. I'm sorry to--"
"What's happened?"
"A telegram from New York. War has broken out in Cordova."
"Oh, no!" It was catastrophic news for Hugh, his family and the bank. Nothing could be worse.
"Civil war, in fact," Mulberry went on. "A rebellion. The Miranda family has attacked the capital city, Palma."
Hugh's heart was racing. "Any indication of how strong they are?" If the rebellion could be crushed quickly there was still hope.
"President Garcia has fled."
"The devil he has." That meant it was serious. He cursed Micky and Edward bitterly. "Anything else?"
"There's another cable from our Cordova office, but it's still being decoded."
"Telephone to me again as soon as it's ready."
"Very good, sir."
Hugh cranked the machine, got the operator, and gave the name of the stockbroker used by the bank. He waited while the man was called to the telephone. "Danby, this is Hugh Pilaster. What's happening to Cordovan bonds?"
"We're offering them at half par and getting no takers."
Half price, Hugh thought. Pilasters was already bankrupt. Despair filled his heart. "What will they fall to?"
"They'll go to zero, I should think. No one pays interest on government bonds in the middle of a civil war."
Zero. Pilasters had just lost two and a half million pounds. There was no hope now of gradually returning the balance sheet to strength. Clutching at straws, Hugh said: "Suppose the rebels are wiped out in the next few hours--what then?"
"I shouldn't think anyone will buy the bonds even then," said Danby. "Investors will wait and see. At the very best it will take five or six weeks before confidence begins to return."
"I see." Hugh knew Danby was right. The broker was only confirming Hugh's own instincts.
