Arthur glanced at his brothers as he strode round the table.William appeared to be his usual robust self, but Richard was as wan and pale as when he had returned from India and looked to be in poor health as he rested his chin on the knuckles of one hand and steadily regarded the two men on the other side of the table.Arthur knew both Grenville and Fox by sight, having seen them both in parliamentary debates and at social events. Grenville was tall and slender but Fox was by far the more arresting of the two. Tall, broad-shouldered and rotund, he had a jowly, good-humoured face and his eyes sparkled with energy. He returned Arthur’s gaze with an intense searching look and then rose and offered his hand as Arthur approached.

‘Ah! One of the younger brothers of the Wellesley family!’

‘Yes, sir.’ Arthur shook his hand, returning the powerful grip with a tightening of his own fist, until he sensed the other man slacken his hold and release his hand. Arthur turned to Grenville, who had risen to his feet a moment after Fox. ‘Prime Minister.’ Arthur bowed his head respectfully. ‘My condolences on the loss of your cousin. Mr Pitt was a fine man.’

‘My loss is the nation’s loss, Sir Arthur. Make no mistake about that.’ Grenville nodded sadly. ‘But we must move on, and take full advantage of the stable condition in which my brother left our nation.’

‘Stable condition?’ Fox chuckled. ‘I hardly think such a vast mountain of public debt and a state of war with the most powerful nation in Europe constitutes stability.’

Grenville turned to his companion with an irritated air.‘Pitt’s legacy is that he saved us from revolution and defeat. I think that is more than enough justification for describing Britain as stable.’

‘If you say so.’ Fox chuckled. ‘Although some of my friends in the House might disagree.’

‘And we must always consider the views of your friends,’ Grenville responded in an acid tone.

The two men stared at each other for a brief moment, and Arthur wondered how such a political partnership could work. In Britain’s present rudderless state perhaps such compromises were inevitable.

Fox cleared his throat. ‘This is a free country, and a man should be free to speak his mind. After all, those are the values that we are fighting for, or so it appears to me.’

Richard’s sickly white face seemed to drain of the very lost drop of blood. When he spoke, it was in a cold, hostile tone. ‘I do not need any lectures on freedom from a man who has been in open communication with the very nation that is determined to end the liberties enjoyed by every man in Britain.’