“Interesting as all this is, I fail to see precisely how it addresses our current problems, Georgia.”

“It doesn’t, directly,” the countess replied serenely. “But it suggests that we ought to bear it in mind as we examine several other considerations. For example, it’s obvious that Harrington is quite concerned at the moment over the domestic Grayson response to all of this. Then there’s the fact that her treecat’s mate has seen fit to adopt White Haven. The White Haven servants who were already disposed to resent her had an earful to tell my investigators about that—until they dried up completely, that is. It seems that the bond between the ’cats is forcing White Haven and Harrington even closer together. At least some of the servants were convinced that the female’s adoption of the Earl had been deliberately contrived by Harrington to let her worm her way into Lady White Haven’s position. I don’t personally think there was anything to that theory, given how hard the two of them seem to be working at pretending, even to one another, there’s nothing between them. Not to mention the fact that Lady White Haven seems to be reacting to all of this extraordinarily calmly, to judge by what my monitors have managed to pick up. But however it happened, that adoption is one more source of tension and unhappiness for both of them. All three of them, really, I suppose.”

“To make a long story short, My Lord, both White Haven and Harrington, but especially Harrington, appear to be under enormous emotional and, to some extent at least, political pressure, regardless of the current turnaround in the poll numbers. And I’ve analyzed both of their records. You can’t produce enough pressure to make Harrington flinch from what she believes her duty requires of her under any conceivable set of circumstances… except one. You can shoot at her, blow her up, threaten her with assassination, or tell her her principles are political suicide, and she’ll spit in your eye. But if you can convince her that something she wants or needs threatens to undermine what she believes her duty requires of her, that’s something else entirely. She’ll back away from whatever it is, even shut down completely, rather than ‘selfishly’ pursue her own interests. And once her emotions are fully engaged, once it’s become personal for her, all of the ‘Salamander’s’ decisiveness tends to disappear.”

“What do you mean?” Descroix asked intently, and the countess shrugged.

“I mean she’s not very good at putting herself first,” she said bluntly. “In fact, it actually seems to… frighten her when her personal needs appear to threaten the things she believes in.”

“Frighten?” High Ridge repeated, one eyebrow raised, and Lady North Hollow shrugged.

“ ‘Frighten’ probably isn’t the best word for it, but I don’t know one that would be a better fit. Her record is really remarkably clear in that regard, beginning while she was still a midshipwoman. It’s common knowledge that she refused to file charges for attempted rape after a certain incident there.” She paused very briefly until her audience nodded understanding of the point they knew she probably wouldn’t have made had her husband been present.