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turned right, away from her flat.
    'You're going the wrong way,' she said.
    'No I'm not. I'm taking you to see the Manor.' He did not look at her, but she had an impression of anger simmering below a veneer of calmness.
    'Why?' She refused to protest.
    'Because I want to show it to you.'
    'I've seen it before. And it's dark.'
    'So I'll put the lights on.'
    'All right.' She would not give him the satisfaction of asking more questions. She knew it would probably please him to know that her curiosity was aroused.
    Dani sat quietly by Prentice's side while they negotiated the long drive of the Manor, and preceded him silently into the blackness of the big hall, standing quite still while he moved around in the dark looking for the lights. When he found them and the hall was illuminated, she blinked and stared around her. She had not been in the house since the death of Mrs Desmond.
    'Look at this staircase!' She walked over to it and ran her hand lovingly over the smooth wood of the newel, following the line of the banister upwards. 'It's beautiful.'
    'Yes, it is.' A white handkerchief was passed to her. 'It's also dirty.'
    He was right. The dust lay thickly on the wood, and she scrubbed at her palm abstractedly as she followed him into the biggest of the reception rooms, her eye immediately going to the fireplace that was the focal point.
    'Come and look at this.' He led the way across to the windows and she followed him obediently, high heels echoing hollowly in the emptiness of the room. He pushed at the window frame. 'Dry rot,' he said succinctly. 'Some of these will have to be replaced.'
    'Some renovation is bound to be necessary,' she pointed out reasonably.
    'Work out how many windows there are in the house. They'll all have to have attention some time soon.'
    'You didn't have to buy it,' she reminded him quietly.
    'No.' He did not seem prepared to say any more, and she walked over to the fireplace and stared down into the grate.
    'What will this room be?' she asked. 'One of the bars?'
    'Possibly.'
    'Hmm.' She was still smarting over the knee-rubbing incident and the fact that he had assumed that she was willing to be brought to the Manor late at night.' I can see it all now.' She glanced around the room, carefully avoiding looking at Prentice who stood in the centre of it. 'You could call it "the Hawaiian bar". Pictures of Maui and Oahu on the walls, fairy lights and plastic pineapples . . .'
    Why was she provoking him so badly? She heard the hiss of his indrawn breath although she was several yards from him.
    'Don't be such a fool!' His voice cut across the space between them like the lash of a whip. 'What do you think I am?'
    'I don't know,' she retorted. 'The Manor has always been someone's home. I hate the idea of it being turned into some fancy place with saunas and . . .' She could not think of anything bad enough.
    'Come with me.' He turned and stalked, straight-backed from the room, and she pulled a face at his retreating figure and wandered after him, saddened by the dingy dilapidation of the place. It had always looked a little shabby in Mrs Desmond's day, had always given an air of being slightly frayed at the edges, but now that the house was empty, the faded wallpapers and the scuffed woodwork made the place look neglected and without dignity.
    Dani followed Prentice up the stairs, stopping at the top to peer at a group of tiny holes in one part of the banister that he indicated with a silent, pointing forefinger, and then wandered behind him along the dark, dusty corridors to the back of the house. Here it seemed that the decay was even more advanced, and she wrinkled her nose at the musty smell.
    Prentice opened a door, reached in to switch on the light, and the naked bulb illuminated a small, bare room. Dani stared. '
    'What am I supposed to see?' she asked. She walked past him as he leaned against the doorframe, intending to step into the room to see what she was missing. He caught hold of her arm, and his