Deadlight-Hall(54)

‘I’ve organized those courses before,’ said Nell, grateful for this approval. ‘When I lived in Shropshire. It works well – you book people into nearby pubs and hotels, depending on what they want to pay, and hold simple workshops and even have a visiting speaker over the two days of the course. Bookbinding or the history of glassware or something like that. And perhaps throw in a conducted tour around a suitable historic house in the vicinity.’

‘I’d sign up for all that,’ said the adviser. ‘I think though, at this stage you need to get some more exact figures. The cost of assigning the lease to you and a builder’s estimate – maybe even an architect’s as well – for knocking the shops into one unit. Once we’ve got that, we can make a more precise forecast and go from there.’

‘That would be sensible,’ said Nell. ‘Godfrey – Mr Purbles – has already asked the landlords for a figure on the lease. And I’ll get quotes for the work – he’s recommended a builder, as well. As soon as I’ve got those I’ll contact you again. Thank you very much.’

‘I haven’t helped much so far,’ said the business adviser.

‘No, but you’ve clarified things. And you’ve been encouraging about the whole idea. That means a lot.’

She went back to Quire Court, still undecided, and spent the next hour unpacking some pieces of glassware she had acquired at a house sale the previous weekend. Beth had come with her to the sale and had loved the tension and the excitement of the auction. They had chosen the pieces they wanted beforehand and Beth had been entranced by the bidding procedure. It was pretty cool, she said afterwards, to have a mum who did things like that.

The glass was going to look very good indeed, and Nell washed it all carefully. But as she did so, one level of her mind was replaying the meeting at the bank. The thought of using up almost all of her careful stash of funds was suddenly alarming, and the prospect of a loan on top of that was outright terrifying. Supposing the venture failed? Supposing there was an even worse plunge in the economy? Supposing she became ill and could not run the shop? There would be absolutely no funds to fall back on, because Beth’s fund was indeed untouchable. As she placed the glassware in the smaller of her two windows and set out some Victorian jewellery with it, she thought it would be a bitter blow if she had to back out.

But when Godfrey came into the shop just before she was closing, clutching a letter and looking anxious, the prospect of backing out loomed even closer.

‘The freeholder’s figure for the assignment?’ said Nell, glad for once that there were no customers in the shop and they could talk freely.

‘Yes. Oh, Nell, it’s much higher than I thought it would be.’

‘How much higher?’

‘They’re saying that because the lease was created more than ten years ago, they’re now allowed to ask whatever figure they want for assigning it. There are stages in the life of the lease, apparently, and this is one of them. I thought the figure would be pretty much the same as I paid, but it isn’t …’

‘Godfrey, how much higher?’

‘Fifteen thousand pounds higher,’ said Godfrey, miserably.

Nell sat down abruptly. ‘Oh, lord, that really is higher.’

‘We can negotiate a bit,’ he said, hopefully. ‘I dare say they aren’t expecting to get the exact amount they’re asking, but they’ve said this is a prime spot. Nell, I do hope I haven’t got you all fired up about this, only to find it’s impossible.’

‘It isn’t like that at all,’ said Nell at once. ‘But that extra fifteen thousand pounds might stretch it too far.’

Michael had intended to spend most of Monday morning drafting notes for a lecture on eighteenth-century novels. There was the usual faculty meeting at nine, and he had a tutorial at eleven, but apart from that he was free. He thought he might try to track down Salamander House later. He would also see if Professor Rosendale had a spare half hour somewhere, to let him have the Porringer letters.

When he got back to his rooms after the meeting, Wilberforce was nowhere to be seen, but he made his presence felt in the form of an email from the photographer doing the publicity shots for the new book. They had rescheduled the shoot, and the photographer would like to come along to Oriel on Thursday morning. They would bring their own props this time, to save any further damage to Michael’s rooms, but it would be really helpful if Wilberforce could be persuaded to cooperate – although remembering the first shoot, Rafe could not think how this might be achieved.