Mark went over to study Alice’s new paintingagain.
“It is starting to grow on me,” he said to no one inparticular.
“I hope so. It certainly cost a pretty penny,” Alice said as she came over to herbrother.
“You had better not tell me how much it cost or I might faint,” hejoshed.
“No need to, my husband already didthat.”
Mark wheeled around and took his sister in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead. “What would I do without you—adorablecreature?”
She disengaged, trailing her hand along his arm. “You do not have to. I am here to stay. And so, too, I hope, your adorable companion, and my dear friend,Emily.
“I am so happy to have met you, Alice,” Emily said, coming over and linking arms with the two ofthem.
“Are you hungry? Lunch is ready, and unfortunately, I must continue working this afternoon. But the two of you please take your time. Enjoy lunch and then take as much time as you need to make your plans. Tea is at four, and if you are still here then, I shall joinyou.”
At lunch, they mostly chatted casually until Alice said, “Mark, my love, what promoters will you be approaching when you start to set up Emily’stour?”
Mark mentioned a fewnames.
“Yes, I know them, but I must tell you, a dear friend of mine, Andre Bellieu, is to be in London this week. He is one of the most distinguished European concert tour organizers and, if you like, I can set up a meeting withhim.”
“I know of Andre, although I have not met him. That would besplendid.”
“I shall send you a note when I have spoken to him and arranged a tentative meeting—at your convenience, ofcourse.”
“Never fear, I shall make whatever arrangements are necessary to attend the meeting you set up. This is my priority at themoment.”
“And I was also thinking, I should like to visit Father and Grandmamma,” Alice said. “I shall bring the husband and the terrible two. Some weekendsoon?”
“Anytime.”
“And perhaps I could persuade Andre to come along,” she turned then to Emily, “and might you be able to attend? Linfield is such a lovely house and we have horses and a lake and evencroquet.”
“I should like that a great deal…” she turned to Mark, “If it is not animposition.”
Mark laughed. “We have more rooms and more staff than we can possibly use and it would be a delight to have you all in attendance. It sounds like it could be a most convivialweekend.”
“And if possible, Mark, perhaps you might invite some of the distinguished music set. It would benefit Emily no end to be meeting many of the influential in the London musiccircle.”
“Excellent idea. I shall arrangeit.”
“Then, dear ones, you must excuse me, I must get back to my comp…” she caught what she was about to say in front of Emily and said, with a smile, “My correspondence. If you will excuseme.”
Mark stood as Aliceleft.
When he sat back down he said, “You know what she does and who her other self is, do younot?”
“I do. You told me previously. But she and I have this little game where I pretend not to know who she really is professionally, and she talks in metaphors about her work. Reginald Blake…indeed.”
Mark stood up from the luncheon table. “Shall we retire to the sitting room? I should like to go into some detail about what you would like your touring program tobe.”
“Ofcourse.”
They were seated by the empty fireplace—a low table between them. Emily was on a sofa and Mark sat across from her in an upholsteredchair.
“Now then, do you have a list of the solo pieces you might want to perform on thetour?”
