Читаем A Dangerous Fortune (1994) полностью

"I'm doing my duty." Now that she felt in control again she began to wonder why he had come here. Was it to concede defeat--or to defy her? If he gave in she could rest assured that soon she would be the wife of the Senior Partner. But the alternative made her want to bite her nails. If he defied her there was a long, difficult struggle ahead, with no certainty of the outcome.

Samuel went to the window and looked out at the garden. "I remember you as a pretty little girl," he said meditatively. Augusta grunted impatiently. "You used to come to church in a white dress with white ribbons in your hair," he went on. "The ribbons didn't fool anyone. You were a tyrant even then. Everyone used to walk in the park after the service, and the other children were scared of you, but they played with you because you organized the games. You even terrorized your parents. If you didn't get what you wanted you could throw a tantrum so noisy that people would stop their carriages to see what was going on. Your father, God rest his soul, had the haunted look of a man who cannot understand how he has brought such a monster into the world."

What he was saying was close to the truth and it made her uncomfortable. "That all happened years ago," she said, looking away.

He went on as if she had not spoken. "It's not for myself that I'm worried. I'd like to be Senior Partner, but I can live without it. I'd be a good one--not as dynamic as my father, perhaps; more of a teamworker. But Joseph isn't up to the job. He's bad-tempered and impulsive, and he makes poor decisions; and you make it worse, by inflaming his ambition and clouding his vision. He's all right in a group, where others can guide him and restrain him. But he can't be the leader, his judgment isn't good enough. He'll harm the bank, in the long run. Don't you care about that?"