Invertebrate Animals .’
‘By Jove! Did it really?’
‘Which was concluded in 1846, and enlarged in 1855.’
‘Well, well!’ Charles wondered whether he was being made fun of. ‘Have you met Miss Deborah Digitt?’ he asked abruptly.
‘I have not had that pleasure.’ Dr Sutch appeared a little startled. ‘Do you recommend it?’
‘It’s just that she’s a bit of a historian herself.’ Charles at once regretted having mentioned this Budleigh Salterton connection. It was in his interest to keep Deborah out of the picture for the present. ‘Knows a little about the family, and that sort of thing. But probably less than you do.’
‘I must make a note of it. I gain the impression, Mr Digitt, that your father also took an interest in the subject. How unfortunate that he died before you were of an age much to discuss it with him.’
‘I was two.’ Charles felt some satisfaction in thus showing command of at least one chronological fact.
‘But precocious, no doubt.’ Dr Sutch seemed to judge that this inane remark was deftly complimentary. ‘I have been working, as I have explained to my clients, on the period of the Civil War. Do the fortunes of your family at that period hold any special interest for you?’
‘I can’t say that they do.’ Charles was conscious that Dr Sutch had put his question with an odd sharpness. ‘I gather the castle got bashed about a good deal. It’s a period that has its interest in the history of warfare, I suppose. Owners of places like this imagining they were still in the Middle Ages, and able to dig in and resist a siege. Then up come chaps with really powerful up-to-date cannon and start pulverizing them. This tower clearly suffered a bit. But it puzzles me, rather. I’m not a soldier, of course. I’m an architect.’
‘Ah, yes. I don’t doubt, Mr Digitt, that you will contribute notably to our national heritage in that field.’
‘Thank you very much.’ Charles judged this decidedly overpowering. ‘I hope that crazy staircase doesn’t worry you. The idea of it was to contribute notably to birdwatching, I believe. Its present use has been a whim of my uncle’s, and of my cousin Archie’s. I gather Archie has been lending you a hand.’
‘Yes, indeed. Lord Skillet is being most helpful.’
‘He seems a little worried by your discovery that some papers of Adrian’s are thought to have arrived in a private collection in America.’
‘He is rightly worried, of course. Yet I judge that anything of the sort is likely to be of minor importance.’
‘I had a chat with my cousin a little time ago, as a matter of fact, about places other than Treskinnick in which some sizable cache of the stuff might be found. Do you yourself think there may be anything in that?’
‘It is not a possibility to be neglected, Mr Digitt. As you know, there was the period of residence in Italy.’
‘I don’t know anything about a period of residence in Italy.’ Charles felt something like his uncle’s irritation at thus being politely credited with information there wasn’t the slightest reason to suppose he had. ‘Do you mean that Adrian Digitt lived in Italy for a time?’
‘Most assuredly he did. For a substantial period before his final domestication here at Treskinnick he occupied the primo piano nobile of a small palazzo on the Grand Canal at Venice.’
‘The dickens he did! That must have cost him a pretty penny.’
‘Not perhaps at that period. But the fact opens up – does it not? – a further field of investigation. There may be papers mouldering away in Venice now.’
‘But the story is, Dr Sutch, that Adrian put in his last years here at the castle in trying to set all his stuff in order. So he’s not likely to have left much in Venice – or anywhere else on the Continent.’
With this argument Dr Sutch was constrained to agree – although obviously with reluctance. Charles felt it unnecessary to hint to him that Lord Ampersand was most
‘By Jove! Did it really?’
‘Which was concluded in 1846, and enlarged in 1855.’
‘Well, well!’ Charles wondered whether he was being made fun of. ‘Have you met Miss Deborah Digitt?’ he asked abruptly.
‘I have not had that pleasure.’ Dr Sutch appeared a little startled. ‘Do you recommend it?’
‘It’s just that she’s a bit of a historian herself.’ Charles at once regretted having mentioned this Budleigh Salterton connection. It was in his interest to keep Deborah out of the picture for the present. ‘Knows a little about the family, and that sort of thing. But probably less than you do.’
‘I must make a note of it. I gain the impression, Mr Digitt, that your father also took an interest in the subject. How unfortunate that he died before you were of an age much to discuss it with him.’
‘I was two.’ Charles felt some satisfaction in thus showing command of at least one chronological fact.
‘But precocious, no doubt.’ Dr Sutch seemed to judge that this inane remark was deftly complimentary. ‘I have been working, as I have explained to my clients, on the period of the Civil War. Do the fortunes of your family at that period hold any special interest for you?’
‘I can’t say that they do.’ Charles was conscious that Dr Sutch had put his question with an odd sharpness. ‘I gather the castle got bashed about a good deal. It’s a period that has its interest in the history of warfare, I suppose. Owners of places like this imagining they were still in the Middle Ages, and able to dig in and resist a siege. Then up come chaps with really powerful up-to-date cannon and start pulverizing them. This tower clearly suffered a bit. But it puzzles me, rather. I’m not a soldier, of course. I’m an architect.’
‘Ah, yes. I don’t doubt, Mr Digitt, that you will contribute notably to our national heritage in that field.’
‘Thank you very much.’ Charles judged this decidedly overpowering. ‘I hope that crazy staircase doesn’t worry you. The idea of it was to contribute notably to birdwatching, I believe. Its present use has been a whim of my uncle’s, and of my cousin Archie’s. I gather Archie has been lending you a hand.’
‘Yes, indeed. Lord Skillet is being most helpful.’
‘He seems a little worried by your discovery that some papers of Adrian’s are thought to have arrived in a private collection in America.’
‘He is rightly worried, of course. Yet I judge that anything of the sort is likely to be of minor importance.’
‘I had a chat with my cousin a little time ago, as a matter of fact, about places other than Treskinnick in which some sizable cache of the stuff might be found. Do you yourself think there may be anything in that?’
‘It is not a possibility to be neglected, Mr Digitt. As you know, there was the period of residence in Italy.’
‘I don’t know anything about a period of residence in Italy.’ Charles felt something like his uncle’s irritation at thus being politely credited with information there wasn’t the slightest reason to suppose he had. ‘Do you mean that Adrian Digitt lived in Italy for a time?’
‘Most assuredly he did. For a substantial period before his final domestication here at Treskinnick he occupied the primo piano nobile of a small palazzo on the Grand Canal at Venice.’
‘The dickens he did! That must have cost him a pretty penny.’
‘Not perhaps at that period. But the fact opens up – does it not? – a further field of investigation. There may be papers mouldering away in Venice now.’
‘But the story is, Dr Sutch, that Adrian put in his last years here at the castle in trying to set all his stuff in order. So he’s not likely to have left much in Venice – or anywhere else on the Continent.’
With this argument Dr Sutch was constrained to agree – although obviously with reluctance. Charles felt it unnecessary to hint to him that Lord Ampersand was most
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