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‘Watch yourself, Colbourne! Who the hell do you think you are, talking to the senator like that?’ Beverley snapped, but Gowrie intervened in his best diplomatic tone, smooth as cream

‘You come too, Colbourne, if you’re worried, but for heaven’s sakesd’you really think I’d hurt hter?’

Tears stung Cathy’s eyes She sed, her face averted All the years of growing up rushed into her head in a swarm of memories

‘I love Cathy,’ Gowrie said in a deep,

Sophie moved closer to Steve, and he looked down at her ‘Sophie co the anxiety in her face ‘We’re not going with you and leaving Sophie alone with your thugs They’d have her in that chopper and aw

ay before we kneas happening’

‘Oh, very well, all three of you, then,’ Gowrie said, as if he was reluctant – but he had ether His apparent surrender was purely tactical, part of his negotiating strategy If you had ‘given in’ on one point, your opponents could bemore important

In the house, Paul had come down the stairs and noticed the open front door He alking slowly towards it when the phone in the hall began to ring just as he was passing it On a reflex instinct he picked it up His voice was curt ‘Yes? What? Mr Colbourne’s colleague is here to join hie So Colbourne had started inviting people to the house now, had he? Could they expect a camera crew next, complete with soundmen and electricians? Oh, yes, they would co in on the scene like some Greek chorus, to stare and be aement on people whose lives they had envied until now, and, above all, to talk pityingly yet with hidden glee, glad that, after all, they were not theht of the gods

He stared into the ornate gilt-fra on the wall in front of hiard with pain, convulsed with anger Fate played strange games Why was Colbourne involved in this? Another of fate’s little jokes? If he, personally, had not been so closely involved, Paul– but it hurt too much for him to summon a smile

Colbourne, of all people Paul had always been jealous of Colbourne Cathy had once been close tohim, whatever she said now She had sworn that she had never been in love with Colbourne, but they had been lovers, she adination picturing theether

And noas Colbourne as the instruht this calamity down on their heads

‘Ask hi up He would like to have said: tell hi such a position He ht as well face facts

Once before he had been faced with disaster and had refused to accept his fate, had escaped – but he kneith all the fatalism of his race, the melancholy acceptance which had always been there in his blood, behind his confidence and drive, that this time he was finished

He had thought himself in the very middle of his life with much still to do; he had dreamt of all sorts of futures for hi children Thank God – at least they had been spared that

He walked into the breakfast-room and found it empty, the table already cleared of their breakfast remains As he hesitated he heard voices outside in the stable yard, recognized Gowrie’s voice, then Cathy’s She sounded distraught His forehead tightened in anxiety and pain