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.‘But I could do it tomorrow, if you’d like me to stay,’ he hastened to add.One look at his face told Clare that the further away he was from Drumsollen today the better it would be for him.‘No, I’m perfectly happy to stay,’ she reassured him.‘Besides, Harry will be arriving at some point and one of us should be here.I’ve locked up our lunch in the bedroom,’ she added, laughing, as he kissed her and went out to the car.So many last things, she thought.The last bottle of wine at the table in Headquarters the evening before the auctioneer’s staff arrived to begin work.The very last batch of sandwiches made and delivered before the kitchen went out of action.The last picking of roses for the cut glass vase in the hall.The vase was still there, both it and the table tagged with robust brown labels and large black numbers.Clare decided the safest place for her was the summerhouse.She climbed the steps, turned and looked back down at the expensive cars lining up before the house, their occupants stepping out, well-dressed and well-heeled, catalogues in hand.After their attendance at the Private View, marks had been made on chosen items, prices considered, bids were now at the ready.She sighed.Tomorrow it would all be over.They’d made plans for disposing of what didn’t sell.Harry would take any good stuff, various charities had been earmarked for the homely and domestic.June and Bronagh would deal with that, do one last tidy and leave Drumsollen to its fate.She wondered if they might have to have a bonfire for the last residues of labels and wrappings and the thought of the fire brought back memories of the day she and Uncle Jack had cleared out the forge house.Then, the small amount of good, old furniture had gone to a sale room.His wooden chair she’d kept for herself, a companion through her years at Queens, but the old wooden settle where Charlie had sat across the fire from her grandfather, night after night, that had to be burnt.They’d carried it out with the remaining rubbish and made a funeral pyre, like a Viking’s funeral, she had thought, as she watched the sparks rise up into the pear tree.Rather different from the clearing of Drumsollen.She wondered how Andrew felt at this moment, or even if he knew what he felt.She was sure he had just needed to get away and keep himself busy while the impedimenta of his life was dispersed, the last emblems of a life he had not chosen being taken up and carried away into the lives of others.By five o’clock the auction was over and June and Bronagh had the whole of the kitchen table on which to lay out picnic mugs and paper cups, scones and cake, for the last time.The auctioneer’s staff came down and drank thankfully, munched their cake, said their goodbyes and hurried off back to Belfast.Within half an hour, silence had descended upon the rooms that had been so full of noise and activity.Clare and Andrew walked around with Harry, amazed at the sight of bare, dusty surfaces so recently weighed down with objects of all kinds.Most of the smaller items of furniture had gone, but the larger pieces remained.They stood, looking strangely out of place, every one of them bearing a large, red SOLD notice and a printed sheet, the details needed by the drivers of vehicles that would arrive in the morning to carry them away to their final destinations.Harry was delighted.He’d made some shrewd guesses, but even he was amazed at some of the unexpected results.With fees and commissions still to be paid, it would be some days before he could give them a final account, but he had not the slightest doubt that the sale had restored at least two thirds of what had been lost when Eventide had to withdraw their offer for Drumsollen, lock, stock and barrel.‘Harry dear, we don’t know how to thank you,’ Clare said, after they’d exchanged the few necessary words about the results.‘That’s what friends are for, Clare.Isn’t that what you once said to me?’ he asked, kissing her on both cheeks.He turned away, stuck out his hand to Andrew, then hugged him instead.‘We’ll miss having you in Ulster,’ he went on, ‘but I’ve a feeling we may see a lot more of each other.It’ll just have to be in more concentrated bits [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]