“This is how an audit proceeds,” she said. “You feel as if you have all this wet laundry and nowhere to hang it, but you forge ahead, wringing pillowcase after sheet after tablecloth, and then, when you think the ordeal will have no end, the bottom of the basket comes into view. Based on this afternoon’s work, I can tell you that your four northern properties are in good order.”

That was not necessarily good news. “I have no family at the northern properties.”

“None?”

“James recently visited the castle in Peebleshire, but no family resides there, and the accountings come straight to me, not through any London steward or manager at the bank.”

She rearranged the pillow at her back. “You will sleep much better when you disentangle your family’s finances from your bank. I understand the temptation to lump them together for the sake of efficiency and generosity, but it’s not a sound practice.”

Meaning the Duke of Walden, arbiter of all things financially prudent, doubtless ordered his finances so his bank and his family holdings never touched, like a toddler with his vegetables.

“Such an adjustment would require significant changes.”

“Make them,” Eleanora retorted. “The bank’s loyalty should be, in theory, to its customers. Your loyalty should be to your family, but as a director, you must also prioritize the welfare of the bank’s customers. Those loyalties are more likely to conflict, the more you entangle your family with your business, and then you will have no good choices when a problem arises.”

“And my family employed at the bank?”

“Ideally, they would work elsewhere. Most of the aristocracy adheres to the convenient rather than the ideal, however.”

“Where do you bank?” The question felt intimate, but then, the fire was burning low in the grate, the household was largely abed, and darkness had fallen hours ago.

“I don’t, precisely. When I was employed as a mercer’s clerk, I kept an account at Wentworth and Penrose. Now, I have a sum invested in the cent-per-cents, but when I amass coin of a certain value, I buy silver goods.”

“Your teapot.” The little vessel sat in pride of place on her mantel, and he’d never seen her use it.

“I have a porringer, some spoons, a vase. Silver is portable and can be engraved with marks of ownership that are not easily altered.”

“How do you know these things?” The itch to unravel her secrets was approaching a compulsion. Where had she learned her skills, why was her sole confidant a semi-reformed alley cat?

“Most people with few means know the value of silver,” she said, pausing to yawn behind her hand. “Silver can withstand proximity to fire, serve a purpose, and be easily stuffed into a traveling bag should a swift departure be necessary.”