‘Not at all,’ replied the Senator. He closed the piano. ‘Socrates said that nothing can harm a good man, either in life or in death, and if you apply that thought to your dear father, you have to admit that it holds true. Your father was lost way before you ever came to ask for money. He was lost because he tried to play a straight game in a crooked way, whereas if he’d played a crooked game a straight way, nobody could have touched him, not even me.’

Hubert came in with a tray of glasses. He poured a large Napoleon brandy for Collis, and a freshly-squeezed orange juice for the Senator. Theodore declined a drink with a weak wave of his hand.

When the servant had gone, Collis said, ‘I hadn’t heard you were any straighter than most, Senator, if you’ll pardon my candour. There was the Oregon land swindle, for example, and then the Milwaukee railroad fraud. Your name was hanging around both of those like rotten shad.’

The Senator kept on smiling. ‘You’re missing my point, Mr Edmonds. I know that both of those episodes were shameful, and that a great many innocent investors lost their money. I regret that. But in the same breath, I have to say that if you look at my personal involvement, it was entirely straightforward, entirely honest, and at no time was I ever aware that non-existent land was being sold, nor that railroad stock was being watered.’

He sat down on the settee, and set his half-finished glass of juice in the hearth. ‘What do you want me to do, Mr Edmonds? Give up business altogether? Because that’s what I’d have to do, to keep out of swindles and double-dealing altogether. I don’t have any doubt that there’ll be hundreds of more swindles in American business as time goes by, and I don’t have any doubt that my name will be hanging around any number of them. But if I washed my hands of anything that looked slightly shady, like Pontius Pilate, my place would simply be taken by characters twice as disreputable as me, twice as greedy, and twice as ready to cut the throats of people like your father and George Spooner. I have to admit that I’m motivated by profit — both in business and in Congress. But I like to think that my particular brand of greed is honest, and above-board, and that while I may cram my mouth with as much of my fellow diner’s food as I can get, I won’t bite his ankle under the tablecloth.’

Collis sat down too, and slowly swirled the brandy around in his glass. ‘I’m not sure why you’ve invited me in,’ he said. ‘I thought you were heavily involved with the Hannibal & St Joseph, and with Jeff Davis, and all the southern-route lobby.’