Not that High Ridge had any personal quibble with Descroix on that particular point. New Dijon had always been careful to distance himself from the current government. That hadn’t meant he was unaware of which side of his bread was buttered, however, and while he’d been careful to maintain his public stance of independent thought, his actual voting record had been another matter.

But today had been different. The fact that William Alexander and his brother would lead the attack had been as inevitable as the next sunrise, and no one had been surprised when a dozen other Opposition peers piled on with their own pointed questions. But three of the Independent peers who had routinely supported the Government had joined the Opposition in indicating serious concern over the Republic’s new, more aggressive negotiating stance… and so had New Dijon.

“Actually,” the Prime Minister said after a moment, “New Dijon’s position may work out in our favor.”

“Excuse me?” Descroix looked at him incredulously, and he shrugged.

“I don’t say that’s what he had in mind, but the fact that he publicly ‘took us to the woodshed,’ as my grandfather used to put it, could actually help us out down the road. As far as the newsfaxes are concerned, he’s indicated his independence of thought and willingness to speak his mind. And the questions he asked were actually on the mild side, you know. So he’s positioned himself to act as a sort of buffer without doing us any real additional harm. Which means that if he later expresses himself as moderately concerned and yet confident in Her Majesty’s Government’s handling of the negotiations, his statement will carry even more weight because of his earlier doubts.”

“Do you honestly believe that’s what he had in mind?” Descroix demanded in obvious disbelief, and High Ridge shrugged again.

“Personally, I doubt it,” he conceded. “His support, however indirect, has always been shakiest where our foreign policy was concerned, you know. I think, however, that he’s clearly indicated his awareness of the consequences for the authority of the House of Lords if this Government should fall. So I wouldn’t be surprised if his own party leadership was able to convince him of the necessity of supporting us against this particular attack. Wouldn’t you agree, Harrison?”

He looked at MacIntosh, and the Home Secretary scowled. But then, obviously against his will, he nodded slowly.

“I’m sure,” the Secretary of Trade put in, “that the Earl will be… open-minded if we approach him properly.”

Everyone at the table glanced in the direction of the Earl of North Hollow with varying degrees of openness. Interesting, High Ridge thought. He hadn’t realized the North Hollow Files might contain anything useful for influencing New Dijon.

“However that may work out in the end,” Descroix went on after a moment, her voice slightly less acid, “we got hurt today. There’s no point pretending otherwise.”

“I wish you were wrong,” High Ridge said. She wasn’t, of course. Alexander had hammered away at the exact nature of the Pritchart “proposals” with merciless energy. Descroix had managed to avoid simply handing over the note from Secretary of State Giancola, which had at least allowed her to paraphrase the taut, uncompromising way in which some of those proposals had been phrased. But nothing she’d been able to do had been sufficient to conceal the fact that the Republic of Haven had, indeed, taken a much harder line. It was painfully obvious that Eloise Pritchart was done responding to Manticoran proposals. She clearly intended to put her own demands on the table and insist that Manticore respond to them, instead.