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‘It will all have to be sold to help cover the debts But, as I said’

‘Hugh has always liked this table’

‘Louis XIV,’ said Cornelius casually

‘I wonder what it’s worth,’ Elizabethto make it sound as if it were of little consequence

‘I have no idea,’ said Cornelius ‘If I remember correctly, I paid around £60,000 for it – but that was over ten years ago’

‘And the chess set?’ Elizabeth asked, picking up one of the pieces

‘It’s a worthless copy,’ Cornelius replied ‘You could pick up a set just like it in any Arab bazaar for a couple of hundred pounds’

‘Oh, I always thought’ Elizabeth hesitated before replacing the piece on the wrong square ‘Well, Ias if her task had been coet that I still have a business to run’

Cornelius acco corridor in the direction of the front door She walked straight by the portrait of her nephew Daniel In the past she had always stopped to remark on how much she missed him

‘I ondering’ began Cornelius as they walked out into the hall

‘Yes?’ said Elizabeth

‘Well, as I have to be out of here in a couple of weeks, I hoped it ht be possible to move in with you That is, until I find somewhere I can afford’

‘If only you’d asked a week ago,’ said Elizabeth, without reed to take in my mother, and the only other room is Timothy’s, and he comes home most weekends’

‘Is that so?’ said Cornelius

‘And the grandfather clock?’ asked Elizabeth, who still appeared to be on a shopping expedition