Page 86 (1/2)

“I’ll tell you all about it over dinner”

The ship’s purser could not have been more helpful He was able to supply Sebastian with an address for Miss Saton, DC, although he couldn’t be sure if she was still living there, as she hadn’t traveled on the ship since the e Seb hoped 2043 would turn out to be a small apartues

He thanked the purser, walked up a couple of flights of stairs to the Grill Room, and joined his father for dinner It wasn’t until the steward had cleared away the inia’s writ

“Quite draht so at the tiar, which he couldn’t have purchased on an A the coinia asked if one of the directors of Barrington’s had sold all his shares with the intention of bringing down the company”

“So how did Mother deal with the question?”

“She turned it to her advantage by asking if Virginia was referring to the three occasions on which Alex Fisher, her representative on the board, had sold an

d then bought back her own shares, while at the sa a handsome profit”

“But as that’s no more than the truth,” said Seb, “it’s hardly libel”

“I agree, but yourthe snake with a very sharp stick by adding—” Harry put his cigar down, leaned back, and closed his eyes—“‘If it was your intention to bring the coinia, you have failed, and failed lamentably, because you were defeated by decent ordinary people ant this co himself, “her exact words were, ‘to be a success’ The audience cheered, and Virginia stor froo, so let’s hope she’s been advised to drop the case and has slithered away into the undergrowth”

“If she has, she’ll only be curled up waiting to strike again”

On the last e, Seb joined his father for breakfast, but Harry hardly said a word He was always the sa in a est three days of his life, he once told Seb, hile he waited to hear Harold Guinzburg’s opinion of his latest work

“But how can you be sure he’s being co he would want is to lose you?”

“I don’t listen to a word he says about the book,” admitted Harry “I’m only interested in the number of hardback copies he will print for the first impression He can’t bluff that Because if it’s over a hundred thousand this tiot a number-one best seller”

“And under a hundred thousand?” said Seb