“Good journey down?” Daniel asked eventually.
“Not bad,” said Charlie.
“And how’s the new car running in?”
“Fine.”
“And Trumper’s?”
“Could be worse.”
“Quite a little conversationalist, aren’t you, Dad? You ought to apply for the recently vacated chair of professor of English.”
“Sorry, Daniel,” said his mother. “It’s just that he’s got rather a lot on his mind at the moment, not least the subject we have to discuss with you.”
“Couldn’t be better timing,” said Daniel, turning the crumpet over.
“Why’s that?” asked Charlie.
“Because, as I warned you, there’s something rather important I have to discuss with you. So—who goes first?”
“Let’s hear your news,” said Becky quickly.
“No, I think it might be wise if we went first,” Charlie intervened.
“Suits me.” Daniel dropped a toasted crumpet onto his mother’s plate. “Butter, jam and honey,” he added, pointing to three small dishes that rested on the table in front of her.
“Thank you, darling,” said Becky.
“Get on with it then, Dad. The tension’s becoming too much for me to bear.” He turned a second crumpet over.
“Well, my news concerns a matter we should have told you about many years ago and indeed would have done so only—”
“Crumpet, Dad?”
“Thank you,” said Charlie, ignoring the steaming offering that Daniel dropped onto his plate, “—circumstances and a chain of events somehow stopped us from getting round to it.”
Daniel placed a third crumpet on the end of his long toasting fork. “Eat up, Mum,” he said. “Otherwise yours will only get cold. In any case, there’ll be another one on its way soon.”
“I’m not all that hungry,” admitted Becky.
“Well, as I was saying,” said Charlie. “A problem has arisen concerning a large inheritance that you will eventually—”
There was a knock on the door. Becky looked desperately towards Charlie, hoping that the interruption was nothing more than a message that could be dealt with quickly. What they didn’t need at that moment was an undergraduate with an interminable problem. Daniel rose from th
e hearth and went over to the door.
“Come in, darling,” they heard him say and Charlie stood up as Daniel’s guest entered the room.
“How nice to see you, Cathy,” Charlie said. “I had no idea you were going to be in Cambridge today.”
“Isn’t that typical of Daniel,” said Cathy. “I wanted to warn you both, but he wouldn’t hear of it.” She smiled nervously at Becky before sitting down in one of the vacant chairs.
Becky glanced across at the two of them seated next to each other—something worried her.
“Pour yourself some tea, darling,” said Daniel. “You’re just in time for the next crumpet and you couldn’t have arrived at a more exciting moment. Dad was just about to let me into the secret of how much I might expect to be left in his will. Am I to inherit the Trumper empire or shall I have to be satisfied with his season ticket to the West Ham Football Club?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said Cathy, half rising from her seat.