This is the thing showmen never understand about substance: the real decisions are not made in the dramatic public moment.

They are made quietly, in advance, by the people who did the actual work, and the public moment is only the announcement of a thing already settled.

Lucan had spent his whole career mistaking the announcement for the decision, the applause for the achievement, the appearance for the substance.

And now he stood on a ballroom floor trying to argue his way out of a verdict that had been entered while he was at home telling his wife not to embarrass him.

There was nothing to argue.

It was already done.