CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO –IGNOBLE DISPLAY

"I needn't remind you whose sterling reputation stands to suffer irreparable harm from this ignoble display," she continued after taking her measure of the surroundings. Each word seemed to strike the air with the grave finality of a judge rendering a life sentence. "You've now witnessed the full extent of the situation firsthand. So I'm trusting you'll understand that idle threats and tantrums are neither necessary nor appreciated here.  Her meaningful pause somehow managed to convey worlds of weary experience in dealing with the younger Lear's legendary capacity for outrageous behavior. Not for the first time, Jasmine found herself silently grateful for her employer's almost preternatural poise under fire. By the time she finished speaking, Nigel seemed to have regained at least a modicum of his blustering composure. He drew himself up to his full height, nostrils flaring in evident outrage as his hands clenched into pale-knuckled fists. "You overstep your bounds with this arrog