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standing on his rights as a junior partner against the other two? Or was it the two younger men who were all out to modernise and move with the times, against tradition?
    Now and again she had heard John advocate a more modem approach for some things, and to argue amiably with his father, who maintained that customers liked to be conservative about their jewellery.
    ‘ If they pay a lot of money for something, they want to be sure it isn ’ t a gimmicky thing which will go out of fashion in a year, ’ he argued. ‘ They want something which is going to last and last. ’
    ‘ But fashions do change, Father, ’ John had argued. ‘ I mean, just look at some of this secondhand Victorian stuff we ’ ve got in to sell. It ’ s nothing like our present-day stock, yet people are buying it all over again. Fashions do keep changing, but people aren ’ t going to throw their jewellery away just because it goes out of fashion. They ’ ll keep it, because it ’ s sure to be back in fashion again. ’
    ‘ Only good stuff that lasts. Some of that stuff is just rubbish. These Victorian pieces are of good design. Probably there was rubbish then, too, but it will have vanished long ago. ’
    John sighed, then shrugged with his usual grin.
    ‘ All right. You ’ re still the boss. ’
    ‘ Good job, too !’
    Uncle James had grinned at Catherine. She had a feeling they enjoyed their squabbles, but it looked as though they had not enjoyed the last one. However, the atmosphere at the dinner table lightened a little as Mrs. Bannon passed round plates and Aunt Lucille talked lightly of the happenings of the day. She had been chairman at a Spring Fete for one of her pet charities, and a local artist had opened the Fete.
    ‘ He ’ s a wonderful artist, but an appalling speaker, ’ said Aunt Lucille. ‘ Everything he said had a double meaning, and the hall rocked with laughter. He was very surprised, and it was all rather embarrassing. ’
    ‘ I should have thought it was a howling success, Mother, ’ John commented, his eyes dancing.
    ‘ Well, it wasn ’ t at all as it was meant to be, ’ said Aunt Lucille, and Uncle James, too, began to chuckle.
    ‘ What did he say? ’
    ‘ You should have been there to hear, ’ Aunt Lucille told him pointedly. ‘ I told you the children could manage on their own for one day. ’
    ‘ Children ! ’ shrieked John and Elizabeth in chorus.
    This time Michael caught Catherine ’ s glance across the table, and she saw that he, too, was beginning to laugh a little.
    ‘ Not on a Saturday, ’ said Uncle James firmly.
    ‘ Well, all right. But I refuse to satisfy your curiosity by repeating the speech. ’
    ‘ I had a funny woman in today who showed me a ring she had bought from the fashion jewellery counter of a large store. A friend was sure a mistake had been made and the stones were real, and she wanted me to confirm this, and buy it back from her! I kept trying to tell her it was only paste, but her friend had known better, and I just couldn ’ t convince her. She went off in a huff, no doubt to try someone else. Some people are odd about their jewellery. If anyone suggests their piece is valuable, then nothing will convince than that it isn ’ t. ’
    ‘ It ’ s like that with watches sometimes, ’ agreed Michael. ‘ They won ’ t believe that a watch can wear out after years of faithful service. The same old watch keeps coming back again and again for repair, and they can become rather offended if one suggests that it ’ s suffering from old age. It kept perfect time for Grandfather, so why not now? ’
    ‘ Must my family always talk shop? ’ asked Lucille. ‘ Let ’ s go through to the drawing room f o r coffee, shall we? ’
    ‘ Of course, my dear, ’ said James. ‘ Then perhaps you ’ ll give us that speech by your artist friend! ’
    In the drawing room Catherine found herself sitting next to Michael on a large, rather sumptuous couch, while Elizabeth had plumped