Stone's Fall

'Obviously. He had no new orders, profits dwindling, shipbuilders everywhere are in despair. And yet he was ordering new lathes, new armour plate, the factories are bursting with parts. What do you think these are all for? How many spare guns do you think anyone needs? Three maybe. No, my friend, he was building ships. He committed five, six million pounds, and didn't stand a chance of getting it back. It was simply a question of how long he would manage to keep going before everything came crashing down. What is remarkable is that the likes of Barings are still pretending there's nothing wrong.'

'You are sure that he'd lost his bet?'

'Did you not read the last Budget?'

'No.'

'The Government has spent so much money on old-age pensions that there is nothing left at all. The only thing that could possibly change the situation is if a war broke out, and that doesn't seem likely at the moment.'

'But Ravenscliff was a clever man.'

'The cleverest.'

'And he wasn't worried. If you were him, and you were in that situation, what would you do?'

'Nothing. Nothing I could do. Except jump out of a window maybe.'

'Or keep going and hope for a war.'

He stared at me. 'That's absurd,' he said. 'There must be another explanation. Besides, how does it explain the shareholders' meeting?'

'I was merely repeating what you said, not advancing my own opinion, you know. What about the shareholders' meeting?'

'I have discovered who was behind the attempted coup d'état.'

'I do very much hope you are going to tell me.'

'Theodore Xanthos.' He looked dreadfully smug as he said it.

'But he's just a salesman,' I said scornfully.

Wilf was now the one to adopt a looked of superior condescension. 'Just a salesman? Xanthos is responsible for about half of Rialto's sales. Eleven million a year. For the last twelve years.'

So?'

'He gets a commission of one and three-quarter per cent. Figure it out.'

I shut my eyes and tried to use my newly learned financial skills. 'That's about . . . Heavens! That more than two million pounds!'

'So, not just a salesman, eh? Admittedly, he has to pay all his own bribes out of that . . .'

'Really?'

'Of course. You wouldn't want them traced back to the company, would you?'

'I suppose not.' The comment, however, made me think.

'No. But even if he's been spending at the rate of £50,000 a year . . .'

'In bribes?' I said incredulously.

'Oh, yes. At least that,' Wilf said airily. 'It's quite normal.'

I shook my head. It wasn't my idea of normal. 'The point is, Xanthos often operates through a bank in Manchester, which was where the payments to Anderson's to buy the Rialto shares came from. A few favours called in, and they confirmed it. Which means that Xanthos was trying to take control of Rialto.'

'How does this fit in with anything?'

Wilf was standing now and reaching for his hat. 'My dear boy, I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me that.'

CHAPTER 26

I arrived to see Elizabeth the next morning. There was nobody around, so I let myself in and went up to the little sitting room to wait for her. And got a shock when I walked in. Sitting on the settee was Theodore Xanthos.

'Mr Braddock,' he said amiably as I entered. 'What a pleasant surprise.'

'I'm surprised to see you, as well,' I replied. 'Have you come to visit Lady Ravenscliff?'

'Ah, yes, but I fear we will both be disappointed. I have just been told she has gone.'

'Really?'

'Yes, quite gone. To Cowes, so I am told. For the week. She and John went every year. It was one of Lord Ravenscliff's great pastimes. He loved the sea. Which I always found curious.'

'Why?'

'Well, he was not one of nature's sportsmen, you know. Nor a great romantic. The lure of the elements did not burn brightly in him. We once crossed the Alps together in a train and I do not think he looked up once. All that scenery, that magnificence and grandeur, and he never once took his nose out of his book. The sea, on the other hand, had a very strange effect on him.'

'In what way?'

'It hypnotised him, almost. Something about it. You English and your sea. Very peculiar. Now we Greeks are quite immune, you know, even though we were a seafaring nation while your ancestors were still grubbing around in forests.'

'When did she leave?'

'Early this morning, I believe. I imagine all her bags went yesterday.'

'And she comes back?'

'I don't know. Last year they spent a week there, then travelled to France for a month.'

'A month?'

'Then he came back here and she went to take the waters in Germany.'

'Baden-Baden.'

'Yes, I believe so.' He paused and looked puckish. 'Aha! You are wondering how you will do without her for such a long time. I told you, you know. I tried to warn you. But she is quite irresistible.'

'I wished to consult her on a matter of importance . . .'

'And so did I! So did I! But here we are, abandoned and forlorn. Ah, well. We must make the best of it. Have some of this excellent coffee. I didn't want it, but Lady Ravenscliff has her servants so well trained that the wishes of visitors are quite irrelevant.'