The Lorimer Line by Anne Melville Read Free Book Online Page B

concentrated in silence on the jewelled birdcage.
    Under one of the bird’s feathers he found a tiny lever and moved it in a dog-leg pattern. Jerkily the bird began to turn and a high-pitched squeaking came from the base of the cage. The mechanism had been fully wound, so the sound continued for a considerable time. John Junius Lorimer appeared in the hall with his mouth open toprotest in fury. But when he saw the cause of the noise his annoyance was replaced by surprise.
    â€˜Miss Lorimer allowed me …’ began David when at last the bird was still, but his chairman waved the explanation aside.
    â€˜Yes, yes. But why couldn’t that fool Parker discover what was wrong, if you could do it so easily.’
    â€˜There seems to be little wrong with the mechanism, sir,’ said David. ‘It needs cleaning, of course: it’ll be a good many years since it was last used. What your jeweller failed to find was the secret catch. If I may show you, sir …’ But it was obvious that the thickened joints of John Junius’s fingers would never allow him to reach the lever. The chairman’s daughter must have seen this as quickly as David himself. Slipping off her glove she asked that she should be given the demonstration instead.
    David showed her first of all the shape of the track through which the lever moved. Then he took her hand and turned it so that her finger could slide beneath the jewelled feather.
    Her hand had been firm, he remembered, as he took it earlier that afternoon, but her fingers were soft and cool. For a second time that day David found himself disturbed by her nearness. He licked his lips nervously and edged quickly away when, having moved the lever once, she checked her knowledge by sliding it back again.
    John Junius was not a man given to thanks so far as the affairs of Lorimer’s Bank were concerned, but his private collection was a different matter. He was brusque, as was his habit, when he expressed his appreciation, but David was aware all the same that he had done himself some good. Perhaps one day some question of promotion might arise, and his name would be remembered with favour.
    In the meantime he prepared to take his leave. He would see John Junius from time to time at the bank, of course, but Margaret Lorimer he had no expectation of meetingagain, unless the Bank Holiday invitation were to be repeated next year. As he bowed low over her hand before going in search of her mother, he told himself that it was perhaps just as well.
    It happened, however, that a meeting came sooner than he expected. The approach to it was a curious one. It was not part of David’s duties at Lorimer’s to prepare or revise the valuations of properties which had been accepted as security for bank loans: he was merely required to incorporate the agreed figures into the annual statements of accounts. But as he studied the amounts, noticing the changes in valuation which had taken place annually on the same property, he became too disturbed to remain silent. Etiquette forced him to use Mr Lynch as his channel of communication, but he addressed his written conclusions directly to the chairman.
    They were as straightforward as they were critical. For a good many years now the trade and prosperity of Bristol -and indeed of the whole country - had increased steadily with each year that passed. But within the past eighteen months the tide had turned. The cotton industry had suffered earlier from the effects of the American Civil War and agriculture from an influx of cheap food. Now, abruptly, a lack of confidence in every sphere, increased by the costs and uncertainties of wars and unrest abroad, showed itself in a general depression of trade. Income tax had already been raised by a penny and a further increase was thought to be imminent. Values were falling now, not rising. It seemed to David that Lorimer’s directors were proving slow to adjust their business to this new