The Secret Chronicles of Henry Dashwood, Vol. 2

Morley arrived only fifteen minutes later as she had been driven home by another artist manque in his new motor car. When she came into the drawing room, I thought at first that she was Cassie's sister, for this attractive lady was certainly no more than forty, and has retained much of her youthful beauty. Her smouldering dark eyes were doubtless the result of her Italian ancestry and her flashing smile must have captured the hearts of many suitors before she married Cassandra's father. 'Aunt Elena, how nice to see you again,' said Charles, rising from his chair and striding forward to kiss his aunt on both cheeks a la francaise. 'Let me introduce my very good friend, Henry Dashwood. Henry, this is my aunt, Mrs. Elena Morley.' I bowed slightly as Elena Morley smiled at me and said in a pleasing, slightly husky voice: 'How do you do, Mr. Dashwood? Welcome to Morley Hall.' 'Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here, ma'am,' I said, and was it merely a figment of my imagination that a mutual spark was lit when our eyes met, and when we shook hands, Elena Morley caressed my fingers for a few seconds longer than was strictly necessary? Only time will tell… Whilst I pondered on this matter, Cassie insisted that her Mama showed us her painting. It is a panoramic view of Brixham. To my (admittedly inexpert) eye, her canvas shows to perfection the picturesque view of the town, with the rows of houses irregularly terraced on the sides of the steep hills of the valley leading down to the harbour. Cassandra cocked her head to one side and said: 'This is your best picture yet, Mama. Perhaps you should send a selection of your work to your art dealer friend in London to see what they might fetch at auction. If they take the fancy of some passing connoisseur, all our financial problems will be solved!' 'My dear, I doubt if even the most amateur of collectors would be interested in my daubings,' laughed Elena. 'But nevertheless, I'm grateful for the compliment.' I cleared my throat and said: 'You must permit me to disagree, Mrs. Morley. 'I would be proud to have this picture on the walls of my living room. The brushwork is bold and clear and I find the use of bright, unshaded colour most pleasing.' 'So do I, Aunt,' chipped in Charles. 'And in my opinion, Cassie is quite right and you should send some samples of your work to a London dealer. What harm could it do? If he does not believe your pictures have any value, all he has to do is write a brief note and return them to you.' Elena frowned and looked hard at us. 'Do you really think so?' she asked doubtfully. 'Mr. Geogliegan is a very busy man, he's always travelling across Europe in search of good paintings, and I wouldn't want to waste his time.' Then Elena threw out her hands and said: 'Very well, I will go to the study and write to Mr.

Geogliegan this very minute. I will send him this picture and you can all help me select another two or three for Polgrave to pack up into a wooden box which the carrier can pick up early tomorrow morning and put on the London train.' 'That's the way, Aunt Elena,' said Charles, rubbing his hands gleefully. 'Strike whilst the iron's hot!'