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‘How kind of you, Elizabeth,’ he said, opening the door to find the estate agent ha FOR SALE Cornelius s that had stopped Elizabeth in her tracks

Frank Vintcent arrived on the Thursday evening, carrying a bottle of cognac and two pizzas

‘If I’d realised that losing Pauline was to be part of the deal, I would never have agreed to go along with your plan in the first place,’ Frank said as he nibbled at his e without her?’

‘Rather badly,’ Cornelius adh she still drops in for an hour or two every evening Otherwise this place would look like a pigsty Come to think of it, how do you cope?’

‘As a bachelor,’ Frank replied, ‘you learn the art of survival froet on with the game’

‘Which game?’ enquired Cornelius with a chuckle

‘Chess,’ replied Frank ‘I’ve had enough of the other game for one week’

‘Then we’d better go through to the library’

Frank was surprised by Cornelius’s openingNeither of theain for over an hour,to defend his queen

‘This ame we play with this set,’ said Cornelius wistfully

‘No, don’t worry yourself about that,’ said Frank ‘They always allow you to keep a few personal items’

‘Not when they’re worth a quarter of a million pounds,’ replied Cornelius

‘I had no idea,’ said Frank, looking up

‘Because you’re not the sort of oods It’s a sixteenth-century Persian masterpiece, and it’s bound to cause considerable interest when it comes under the hammer’

‘But surely you’ve found out all you need to know by now,’ said Frank ‘Why carry on with the exercise when you could lose so much that’s dear to you?’