Mightier Than the Sword (The Clifton Chronicles 5)

“Are you threatening me, Lady Virginia?”

“As I said, Mr. Sloane, you may take it as you wish.”

* * *

Virginia slammed down the phone and turned to Fisher. “I’ll give him a couple of days to come up with the twenty thousand, otherwise—”

“That man won’t part with a penny unless you have a written agreement, and perhaps not even then. It’s the way he treats everyone. He promised me a place on the board of Farthings but since the Bishara deal fell through, I haven’t heard a word from him.”

“Well, I can promise you that he won’t be working in the City for much longer if I have anything to do with it. But I’m sorry, Alex, I’m sure that wasn’t the reason you wanted to see me.”

“No, it wasn’t. I thought you ought to know that I was issued with a subpoena this morning from Mrs. Clifton’s solicitors, putting me on notice that they intend to call me as a witness at your trial.”

* * *

“I’m sorry I’m late,” said Seb as he climbed on to the barstool. “When we came out of the theatre, it was raining, and I couldn’t find a taxi, so I had to drive my aunt to Paddington to make sure she didn’t miss the last train.”

“Worthy of a boy scout,” said Bishara.

“Good evening, sir,” said the barman. “Campari and soda?”

Seb was impressed, as he’d only visited the club once before. “Yes,” he replied, “thank you.”

“And what does your aunt do in Cambridge?” asked Bishara.

“She’s an English don at Newnham, the family’s bluestocking. We’re very proud of her.”

“You’re so unlike your fellow Englishmen.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Seb as a Campari and soda was placed in front of him.

“You treat everyone as an equal, from the barman to your aunt, and you don’t patronize foreigners, like myself. So many Englishmen would have said, my aunt teaches English at Cambridge University, but you took it for granted that I knew what a don is, that Newnham is one of the five women’s colleges at Cambridge, and that a bluestocking is a girl who aspires to learning. Unlike that patronizing idiot Adrian Sloane, who, because he went to Harrow, thinks he’s well educated.”

“I get the impression you dislike Sloane almost as much as I do.”

“Possibly more, after his latest con trick when he tried to sell me his bank.”

“But it’s not his bank to sell. At least not as long as Cedric Hardcastle’s widow still owns fifty-one percent of the stock.”

“But she doesn’t any longer,” said Bishara. “Desmond Mellor has recently purchased all her shares.”

“That’s not possible,” said Seb. “Mellor’s a wealthy man, but he’s not in that league. He’d need twenty million before he could get his hands on fifty-one percent of Farthings’ stock, and he doesn’t have that sort of money.”

“Could that be the reason the man who was sweating when I was in the Farthings boardroom wants to see me?” said Bishara, almost as if he was speaking to himself. “Has Mellor overstretched himself, and now that my offer is no longer on the table, does he need to off-load his shares?”

“What offer?” said Seb, not touching his drink.

“I agreed to pay five pounds a share for what must have been Arnold Hardcastle’s stock, or to be more accurate, his mother’s. I was just about to sign the contract when Sloane decided to raise the price to six pounds. So I withdrew my offer, packed up my tent, gathered up my camels, and headed back into the desert.”

Seb laughed. “But at five pounds he and Mellor would both have made a small fortune.”

“That’s my point, Mr. Clifton. You would have honored the deal, not tried to change the price at the last moment. But Sloane only thinks of me as a carpet trader he can take advantage of. But if I can get two questions answered before I see Mellor tomorrow, I could still take over Farthings and, unlike Sloane, I would welcome you onto the board.”

“What do you need to know?”

“Was it Mellor who purchased Mrs. Hardcastle’s shares and, if so, how much did he pay for them?”

“I’ll give Arnold Hardcastle a call first thing in the morning. But I must warn you, he’s a lawyer by profession, and although he hates Sloane almost as much as I do, he would never compromise a client’s confidentiality. But that won’t stop me trying. What time’s your meeting with Mellor?”