A Matter of Honour (49 page)

FOUNDED 1744

 
“Sold to the gentleman in the centre of the room for five thousand
pounds.

“We now move on to Lot no. 32,” said the
auctioneer, looking down from the raised platform at the front of the crowded
room. “An icon of St George and the Dragon,” he declared as an attendant placed
a little painting on the easel next to him. The auctioneer stared down at the
faces of experts, amateurs and curious onlookers. “What am I bid for this
magnificent example of Russian art?” he asked, expectantly.

Robin gripped Adam’s hand. “I haven’t felt
this nervous since I came face to face with Romanov.”

“Don’t remind me,” said Adam.

“It is, of course, not the original that
hangs in the Winter Palace,” continued the auctioneer, “but it is nevertheless
a fine copy, probably executed by a court painter circa 1914,” he added, giving
the little painting an approving smile. “Do I have an opening bid? Shall I say
eight thousand?” The next few seconds seemed interminable to Robin and Adam. “Thank
you, sir,” said the auctioneer, eventually looking towards an anonymous sign
that had been given somewhere at the front of the room.

Neither Adam nor Robin
were
able to make out where the bid had come from. They had spent the last hour
seated at the back of the room watching the previous items coming under the
hammer and had rarely been able to work out whose hands they had ended up in.

“How much did the expert say it might go
for?” Robin asked again.

“Anywhere between ten and twenty thousand,”
Adam reminded her.

“Nine thousand,” said the auctioneer, his
eyes moving to a bid that appeared to come from the right-hand side of the
room.

“I still think it’s amazing,” said Robin, “that
the Russians ever agreed to the exchange in the first place.”

“Why?” asked Adam. “Once the Americans had
extracted the treaty, there was no harm in allowing the Russians to have their
original back in exchange for the copy which rightly belonged to me. As an
example of diplomatic ingenuity it was Lawrence at his most brilliant.”

“Ten thousand from the
front of the room.
Thank
you, sir,” said the auctioneer.

“What are you going to do with all that
money?”

“Buy a new double bass, get a wedding
present for my sister and hand over the rest to my mother.”

“Eleven thousand, a new bid on the centre
aisle,” said the auctioneer. “Thank you, madam.”

“No amount of money can bring back Heidi,”
said Robin quietly.

Adam nodded thoughtfully.

“How did the meeting with Heidi’s parents
turn out?”

“The Foreign Secretary saw them personally
last week. It couldn’t help, but at least he was able to confirm that I had
only been telling them the truth.”

“Twelve thousand.”
The auctioneer’s eye returned to the front
of the room.

“Did you see the Foreign Secretary yourself?”

“Good heavens, no, I’m far too junior for
that,
‘ said
Adam. “I’m lucky if I get to see
Lawrence, let alone the Foreign Secretary.”

Robin laughed. “I consider you were
lucky
to have been offered a place at
the Foreign Office at all.”

“Agreed,” said Adam chuckling to himself, “but
a vacancy arose unexpectedly.”

“What do you mean, ‘unexpectedly’?” asked
Robin, frustrated by how few of her questions had been answered directly in the
past half hour.

“All I can tell you is that one of Lawrence’s
old team was ‘retired early’,” said Adam.

“Was that also true of Romanov?” asked
Robin, still desperately trying to discover all that had taken place since they
had last met.

“Thirteen thousand,” said the auctioneer,
his eyes returning to the lady on the centre aisle.

“After all he can’t have survived for long
once they discovered you had done a switch on Tower Bridge that gave the
Russians back the copy while Romanov ended up presenting you with the original,”
said Robin.

“He’s never been heard of since,” admitted
Adam innocently.

“And all our information leads us to believe
that his boss Zaborski is soon to be replaced by someone called Yuri Andropov.”

“Fourteen thousand,” said the auctioneer,
his eye settling on the gentleman at the front once again.

“What happened when you produced the papers
proving that it was not your father who had smuggled the poison into Goering’s
cell?”

“Once they had been authenticated by the
Russians,” Adam said, “Lawrence paid an official visit to the Colonel of the
Regiment and furnished him with the conclusive evidence.”

“Any reaction?” probed Robin.

“They’re going to hold a memorial service in
Pa’s memory and have commissioned some fellow called Ward to paint his portrait
for the regimental mess. Mother has been invited to unveil it in the presence
of all those officers who served with my father.”

“Fourteen thousand for the first time then,”
said the auctioneer raising the little gavel a few inches in the air.

“She must have been over the moon,” said
Robin.

“Burst into tears,” said Adam. “All she
could say was ‘I wish Pa could have lived to see it.’
Ironic,
really.
If only he had opened that letter.”

“Fourteen thousand for the second time,”
said the auctioneer, the gavel now hovering.

“How do you fancy a celebration lunch at the
Ritz?” said Adam, delighted with how well the sale was turning out.

“No thank you,” said Robin.

Adam looked across at his companion in
surprise.

“It won’t be much fun if every time I ask
you a question I only get the official Foreign Office briefing.”

Adam looked sheepish. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“No, that wasn’t fair,” said Robin. “Now you’re
on the inside it can’t be easy, so I suppose I will have to go to my grave
wondering what treaty was inside that icon.”

Adam looked away from the girl who had saved
his life.

“Or perhaps I’ll find out the truth in 1996
when the cabinet papers are released.”

He turned slowly to face her.

“Alas...” he began as the auctioneer’s
hammer came down with a thud. They both looked up.

“Sold to the gentleman at
the front for fourteen thousand pounds.”

“Not a bad price,” said Adam, smiling.

“A bargain in my opinion,” replied Robin
quietly.

Adam turned to her, a quizzical look on his
face.

“After all,” she said in a whisper, “imagine
what the forty-ninth state would have fetched if it had come up for auction.”

THE END

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4 9 3

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny
Less
£3.50

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Kane and Abel £4.50

A Quiver Full of Arrows £3.50

TheProdigal Daughter £4.50

First Among Equals £4.50

A Matter of Honour £4.50

A Twist in the Tale £3.50

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