Duke Geoffrey Bellamy

Head of House Bellamy, the River Foxes, whose business is rivers, customs, bridge dues and freight order. Socially brilliant and financially exact, he lets opponents believe a dinner was friendly until the next morning’s tariff paper arrives.

House Bellamy’s reputation belongs to rivers, customs, bridge dues and freight order, and to the profitable understanding that water creates jurisdictions faster than clerks can simplify them. From Foxhall House the River Foxes rule much of the watery arithmetic around the Blackfriars quays. Duke Geoffrey Bellamy is its present head: socially brilliant, financially exact, and famous for allowing opponents to believe a dinner has been friendly until the following morning’s tariff paper arrives.

The house’s quarrels follow the water. Bellamy and Corbin cooperate at sea more often than either admits and compete wherever river authority becomes maritime authority. Duke Hugh Mereford of the Bridge Lords quarrels with Bellamy regularly over the point at which bridge authority becomes river authority, and Harcourt and Bellamy together can turn a question of paperwork into a contest over the river. In the grain country House Halden counts Bellamy among its rivals whenever money seems to outrank the fear of hunger. Geoffrey’s instinct, when a question arises, is to find where the water runs and who is owed for its passing.

Companies meet the River Foxes over freight: a cargo detained at a bridge, a customs quarrel, a toll disputed between two authorities who each claim the same stretch of water. Bellamy interests are said to hire quietly and to pay exactly what was agreed, not a penny more. An invitation to dine at Foxhall House is seldom declined, and it is wise to read the next morning’s post with care.

In person

The Duke is a prosperous, urbane man of about fifty with strawberry-blond hair turning light copper and pronounced sideburns. His face is a little fleshy with good living, but his blue-grey eyes, behind a small monocle or pince-nez, are sharp. He dresses immaculately and somewhat flamboyantly, and keeps river papers, tariff sheets and freight ledgers near at hand.