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Miss Vosper, which was not so much a burning of boats as the entire disintegrationof a familiar shore. I had not meant to let it go so far as this; I was drunk with good fortune.
    I ordered two new suits; bought one off the peg; three silk shirts, two pairs of shoes, three motor car tyres and a gear-box, and paid off Mrs Nolan. Her curiosity about the lawyer’s letter was now warm, and, anxious that she should not let drop anything to Maura on the telephone, I told her there was a legacy but that the legal situation was complicated by other claimants and that I had pledged myself to remain silent.
    This rage of spending kept me busy during the day, and I saw Maura each evening. Our relationship had now developed a curious, somewhat uncertain, but not unpleasant character. She was quieter, rather quizzical, scrupulously uninquisitive. It was as though we were meeting for the first time. Titillated but uneasy, I felt myself compelled to invent complete and detailed days in the Little Swine’s service.
    On the Wednesday I rang Imre again.
    ‘Nicolas, my boy,’ he said breathily, ‘you must be patient. I have not told her yet. She has not been at all well.’
    ‘Damn it, Uncle – I must see her.’
    ‘I know, my boy, I know,’ he said unhappily. ‘She has been asking why you have not been. Perhaps if you could leave your visit till the weekend.’
    ‘Well, if you think so,’ I said.
    ‘Say Saturday. It will give me more time. She is improving a little now. Saturday would be the best. We can have a little talk downstairs first.’
    ‘All right.’
    ‘Goodbye,’ he said abruptly. Maminka must have wandered into hearing.
    ‘Goodbye,’ I said, after the click, and nearly smashed the phone in fury.
    It seemed to me that my mother would show a rather more rugged fortitude over Bela’s death than Imre gave her credit for; my interests came first with her. I felt safe, therefore, in taking her some rather grand present. With this in mind, I went up to my room and inspected the state of my finances.

    I took out my wallet and emptied my pockets in a small pile on the divan and began counting. There were eight fivers, two one-pound notes and a handful of silver. I stared at it appalled. Over a hundred and forty quid gone in half a week. And I’d only paid a deposit on the two suits; that meant another eighty pounds to lay out. I wondered how I was going to explain this to little Cunliffe.
    I found myself trying a few specimen interviews with him in my mind, and after a while I lit another cigarette and went downstairs to phone him. Mrs Nolan came out of her lair as I picked up the receiver, so I Dialled tim instead, checking ostentatiously with my watch, and went out to telephone from the public box farther up the street
    Bunface put me through to Cunliffe right away.
    ‘Yes, Mr Whistler, what can I do for you?’
    ‘I was just wondering if you’d heard anything further.’ I caught my reflection smiling in a rather sickly fashion in the small round mirror.
    ‘Nothing at all. I am not expecting to for a while. Have you any particular problem?’
    ‘Not exactly a problem . I was wondering if we couldn’t arrange something a little more definite about money – perhaps a regular remittance.’
    He didn’t say anything.
    ‘There might be one or two things I want to buy,’ I said, sweating. ‘It would be useful to know the money was available.’
    ‘I don’t quite understand,’ he said at last. ‘You mean you have spent the two hundred pounds?’
    ‘Oh, no! Not at all. Rather not, Mr Cunliffe,’ I said. ‘I merely thought – if one could fix up something definite . Perhaps starting this weekend.’
    His gravelly laugh came over the phone. ‘How much of the money have you got left?’
    ‘Well, about forty or fifty, actually,’ I said, relieved that the little buffer was taking it so well. ‘But that includes …’
    ‘You don’t need to explain,’ he said, still laughing heartily. ‘A certain amount