B C Chase Paradeisia Origin of Paradise

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.Seated at the head of the table, she had a hawkish nose, but this feature was grandstanded by her large, piercing eyes.“Are we quite ready to begin?” she inquired impatiently.Receiving nods from around the table, she tapped her hand and said, “Good.” Then she declared, “Let me be abundantly clear: What we have received for our trouble is an utter catastrophe.” Her small lips curved downward into a sneer of disgust, “When my feckless nephew came to me and asked for a considerable investment in this scheme, I didn't have the foresight to cast him from my threshold like the black cat he was.His sales antics were far better than his business acumen proved to be.So, alas, I invested.And when that investment was brought to nothing, he exploited the good faith I had placed in him to bewitch all of you,” she motioned to the men around her, “who invested.And when that was lost, and he had the nerve to come cooing around my doorstep once more, what do you think I did?” She waited expectantly for an answer.Henry Potter, resting his chin on his hand with one elbow on the table, raised his other hand and offered, “Invested again?”“No indeed I did not! Merciful heavens,” she scowled at him.“I plucked the toy from the infant's grasp and took up the chairmanship of this miserable board.” Her comment received looks of gloomy agreement from the men.“Unfortunately, I was far too late,” she continued.“Waste, exorbitance and no plan whatsoever to earn a single farthing back has been our return on investment.This aircraft itself—” she made a sweeping motion to their luxurious surroundings “a corporate jet the size of a commercial airliner—is evidence of my nephew's excesses.“Now for your part, Mr.Potter,” she fixed her eyes on Henry in a stony glare, “your miraculous history of resurrecting corporate debacles seems too miraculous to be true.But our expensive consultants have told us that you are the man of the hour.So here we are, throwing ourselves upon your mercy.“I have contributed my largest and, I expect, last infusion of currency to keep the fiasco afloat for now.Please accept my sincerest wishes for your success.So tell us.What is your plan?”Aubrey watched as Henry sat there for a moment, listlessly gazing out the window.Then, clearing his throat, he straightened his posture and said, “Lady Shrewsbury, you call your nephew feckless, but in fact it was you who was feckless.”She hardly had a moment to take offense before he continued, “Has he ever done anything positive with money before he came to you for it? My guess is 'no;' otherwise he would have had no need for your patronage.Yet you knowingly shared your considerable wealth with him.Without any logical evidence that his proposition was worthy of the slightest consideration, you invested.This, this was feckless indeed.So do not castigate your nephew for doing what anyone would have done in his shoes.Everyone spends money freely that is freely given.Now you tell me, am I wrong in this?”Lady Shrewsbury looked aghast, “You have very stingy words for your new employer.I suppose you've never heard the phrase 'do not bite the hand that feeds you.'” she stared directly at Henry, “.lest you be flung from the jetliner.”Henry appeared fatigued, like a professor with a classroom of unmotivated students, “I ask the question, my feckless Duchess, because in order to be entirely motivated to redressing your mistake, you must, entirely, take the blame for it.“Time and time again I've seen it.Every person in your situation begins with the same problem: they blame others for their errors.'My accountant wasn't paying attention, politics got in the way, I had twins, the bank wouldn't give me a loan, my father was abusive, I ran out of cash, my wife divorced me, my partner was an idiot, there was a drought, my parents died.'” He looked the duchess directly in the eye for his next sentence: “‘My nephew was feckless.' These are all wonderful sentiments if one wants to sooth feelings of self-loathing, but they do nothing to fix problems.So I ask you again, do you want to fix your mistake? Were you a feckless duchess?” He swung his finger like a conductor, “Say 'I was a feckless duchess.'”“I will not soil the honor of Shrewsbury by including my title in the matter.However, I will acknowledge that my actions were unseasonable.”Henry raised a single eyebrow, unimpressed, “And do you agree your nephew cannot be blamed?”She grinned patronizingly at Henry, “I think you will discover, as I have, that my nephew is extraordinarily gifted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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