A Man Over Forty (37 page)

‘A large number, certainly.'

‘So you'll pay me a large advance?'

‘Are you in need of money?'

‘You may remember – as you've read the book twice – that a year ago Balintore offered to take my cousin Honoria to Greece; but she had to refuse,' and naturally was very disappointed. Well, I've been living in Ireland, at Turk's Court, since I came back from Mount Athos – I wrote the book in Ireland – and Honoria's in London now, at my mother's. This morning I got a letter from Peter Ricci, who's in Rhodes. He's built a boat of his own – I mean, he's had it built there – and he says it's a very good boat, and he's proposing to cruise from Rhodes through the Dodecanese and the Aegean islands to Istanbul.'

‘A very pleasant prospect.'

‘Isn't it? And he and his wife – that good Australian girl, Myrtle – want Honoria and me to join them.'

‘Are you going?'

‘It costs a lot of money to fly to Rhodes. And there are two of us.'

‘Will £500 be enough?'

‘You had better make it £1,000.'

‘It won't cost as much as that—'

‘I've had other expenses. That unfortunate geologist, O'Halloran, got into grave difficulties after his mine collapsed, and I bought his lease from him – his lease of those two fields – for £300, and gave it to Honoria, who was very pleased to get it. And then Polly Newton turned up again. She went on writing to Ned, and when I came home I found her letters, and told her to come and see me. That was before I went to Ireland, of
course: it took me a couple of months to settle Ned's affairs. Well, that was embarrassing, but not so bad as I had expected. She's a sensible girl, in fact, and she's gone back to New York, to Mr Evershrub, who was delighted to get her again: he says she's the only secretary he's ever had who can remember things. But he refused to pay her fare a second time, so I did that—'

‘You were still settling Balintore's affairs?'

‘That was my own decision, and I paid for it. I drew my salary for the two months I was working for him, and then discharged myself with a month's notice.'

‘Did you handle all Balintore's business?'

‘For more than four years, yes. And since his – his retirement, shall we say? – I have had to persuade his several exwives to accept a final settlement, and still leave enough to assure him a reasonable income – an income, that is, that's sufficient for him so long as he remains in his monastery.'

‘And he has accepted your terms?'

‘He says he is very pleased with them.'

‘In that case,' said Mulligan, ‘I think we can go ahead. Ihave, as it happens, a form of contract here—'

‘I'm sure it will be satisfactory. But before I read it, may I use your telephone?'

‘Of course.'

‘I want to speak to Honoria, and tell her to send a cable to the Riccis. And she'll have to buy some clothes. She has hardly anything, poor girl, except Irish tweeds and oilskins; and they won't do for the Aegean.'

‘What sort of clothes is Balintore wearing?'

‘Black,' said Palladis. ‘But if I hadn't looked after him, he'd be wearing a coffin.'

To

Rupert Hart-Davis

with old affection

This electronic edition published in 2011 by Bloomsbury Reader

Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London
WC1B 3DP

Copyright © Eric Linklater 1963

The moral right of author has been asserted

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ISBN: 9781448205813
eISBN: 9781448205509

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