‘Mr Edmonds tells me you need assistance to leave Washington undetected,’ said Representative Watkins.

‘That is just about the case,’ Senator Stride said and nodded. ‘I’m willing to pay, of course, as much as is necessary.’

Representative Watkins pulled at his nose with his finger and thumb, and sniffed. ‘I’d have to ask twenty-thousand. There are all kinds of palms to be oiled; all kinds of arrangements to make.’

‘If that’s what it takes,’ said Senator Stride. ‘If I don’t get out of Washington soon, I’m going to be captured again, and shot.’

Representative Watkins raised an eyebrow. He had a head that reminded Collis of a large plum pudding, steaming on a plate. Even the freckles on top of his bald pate looked like a frosting of Demerara sugar. The camera mechanism clicked again, and Collis grimaced at the loudness of it.

‘There will, of course, be expenses,’ said Representative Watkins. ‘I’ll have to pay for a carriage, and a boat, and for someone to row you across the Potomac.’

‘How much?’ asked Senator Stride.

Representative Watkins puffed out of his cheeks. ‘In all,’ he said, ‘about ten thousand dollars.’

‘So you’re asking for thirty?’

‘With five for personal expenses, yes. Thirty-five thousand.’

Senator Stride looked at Collis darkly, but all Collis could do was shrug. Collis was only acting as entrepreneur, and Senator Stride himself was in no position to haggle. Either he relied on Representative Watkins, and paid Representative Watkins’s price, or he would eventually swing from the gallows in Washington’s jailyard.

‘Very well,’ he said, and unbuttoned his vest just far enough to expose a canvas moneybelt wrapped around his waist. Representative Watkins sat back in his chair and licked his lips with unconcealed relish as Senator Stride counted out twelve thousand dollars in gold coins, and set it out on the table between them in seven neat stacks. The afternoon sun shone through the bare windows and sparkled on the coins as if it could give its attention to nothing else, as if it were obsessed by them. Collis had previously taken down the lace curtains to improve the quality of the light, but now the light itself was enhanced by Senator Stride’s gold.

Representative Watkins leaned forward, and spots of golden reflected light lit up his jowls.

‘I believe we can do business, Senator,’ he said.

From behind the curtains, there was another loud mechanical click.

Collis said nothing as Representative Watkins gathered up the money and scooped it into a leather portmanteau. But as the Congressman started to rise from his chair, Collis said, in a gentle but arresting voice, ‘There’s one bit of business we haven’t quite finished with yet.’

‘Yes?’ asked Representative Watkins cautiously. ‘What can that be?’

‘My business,’ said Collis. ‘The business of the Sierra Pacific Railroad, and its charter from Congress. The business of the Railroad Act. That’s what we haven’t quite finished yet.’