Page 64 of The Christmas Invitation
He looked flatteringly disappointed. ‘Then why not come up to Underhill tomorrow? I’d love to show you what I’m doing to the place. I’ll pick you up after lunch.’
‘That would be nice, if it fits in with Clara’s plans, but I could drive up. I’ve got my camper van with me.’
‘Oh, no problem,’ he said. ‘See you tomorrow!’
When I told Clara about the invitation she said she’d ring Sybil. ‘When Mark brings you back, she can come along too and they can both stay for tea. The boy can’t work all the time.’
‘How old is “the boy”?’
She grinned. ‘Oh, I suppose he must be thirty-one or so by now, but he seems a boy to me. What on earth have you been buying?’ she added, looking at the bags.
‘There was a surprisingly good stock of things in Bilbo and Flower’s shop. I got a vegan cookbook for Oshan – he thinks he can cook, but he really can’t – and there was a new book on ley lines for River and … well, I bought a few more odds and ends. Then in this bag there are two tunics, a purply-pink one and a powder blue, with pleating and little bells.’
Andthere was a pair of black harem trousers, though I certainly wasn’t harem material.
‘What with the new dress I got in Great Mumming, I’ve never bought myself so many new clothes all at once in my life,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what’s come over me.’
‘They’re all very pretty, so why not?” Clara said, admiring the tunics that I’d pulled out to show her. ‘I love new clothes.’
‘Now I’ve put weight back on, I fit much better into my old ones again.’
‘You’re just right, now,’ she assured me.
‘My mother’s small and plump – or she was, last time I saw her,’ I said. ‘My father’s the tall, stringy type, so I must fall somewhere in between.’
For the first time I noticed that there were distant hoovering noises above our heads and, now I came to think of it, there had been a van outside when Mark dropped me off.
‘It’s Tuesday, so Mary’s Pop-ins are here,’ she said.
‘Mary’s Pop-ins?’
‘A local cleaning service from Thorstane. They send a team over every other Tuesday to give the house a good going-over, then in between, Olive Adcock gives us a couple of hours and changes the beds and that kind of thing. She’s very obliging. Den likes to do the kitchen himself, though; he won’t let anyone else clean it.’
She tilted her head, listening to the noises from above. ‘They’ll have finished upstairs in a few minutes and move down here, so I’m going out for a walk with Henry and you’re welcome to join us. Tottie’s going to Underhill to ride with Sybil.’
But I said I’d had enough walking in the sleet for one day.
I had a hasty lunch and a cup of coffee, then went into my studio to mount two sketches – Tottie and Henry – and by then the cleaners were finishing with the drawing room, so I retreated upstairs to my little turret, where I’d stashed the presents. I didn’t think Teddy would go up there, but I’d already wrapped his art box anyway, just in case. One of today’s purchases was also for him: a little bean-filled corduroy dragon. I couldn’t resist it.
I decided to wrap everything and there was quite a heap of parcels when I’d finished, though I put the ones for the Farm back in the biggest bag.
Then I sat in the tapestry chair and read Clara’s novel … and as the afternoon light faded, I reached the end.
I never sawthattwist coming!
Downstairs, the house was shiny and clean and the scent of lavender polish competed with that of resinous pine. I could hear the tapping of typewriter keys behind Henry’s door, but Clara’s was wide open and she called me.
‘Come in, Meg! Tottie’s gone to collect Teddy and I’m dying to tell someone – look!’
She gestured at her screen, where several pieces of incised clay tablet had been roughly fitted together.
‘Eureka!’ she cried. ‘And since I know that the same inscription is also engraved on to a stone temple slab, it would appear to be an edict sent throughout the land, rather than just a proclamation.’
I got the gist, even if not quite understanding what she was talking about. ‘Wonderful,’ I enthused, but she was already sitting back down at the keyboard. ‘The pieces are from three different museums and two collectors,’ she said. ‘I must email them all and let them know …’
Seeing she’d forgotten I was there I tiptoed out again and closed the door quietly behind me.
After tea, which had taken on a celebratory air once Henry had winkled Clara out of her study, I went back into the studio and rang the Farm.
