ReReader is right about Mary. Magnussen explains it very well himself in the Appledore scene in HLV.
And with Lady Smallwood, she being the chairwoman of a commission enquiring into illegal goings-on between the media and the government (very much inspired by the Leveson Enquiry), he obviously wants to blackmail her into the commission leaving him alone and letting him continue his abominable practices. Think of it like Moriarty blackmailing/bribing the jury at his trial in TRF.
Last edited by La Jolie (August 30, 2014 10:56 am)
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Don’t move, don’t speak, don’t breathe. I’m trying to think.