Chapter 10

On my way back I stopped near the old house. I had no reason just a whim to stand where my great--grandfather had perhaps stood. As I wandered I inadvertently kicked one of the granite setts which had come loose from its seating. I looked for more and found many more, some set in place but most laying haphazardly here and there. An idea came to my mind and I sought the area where the courtyard gave way to the drive up from the main gate. I was right. The drive and its route were indicated by the lesser growth of grass. I kicked the grass away and underneath lay the granite setts. If the drive was paved with these setts there would certainly be sufficient to create a paved area in front of the Dower House. I picked up one of the setts and took it with me as I drove back.

Aleksy came out to meet me when I stopped. "Want to look around, Boss?"

"No not now, Aleksy." I showed him the sett. "What would you think about using something like this for a forecourt."

He looked closely and seemed impressed. "It's the real thing not a cast replica. Cost a fortune these days. But one won't do it. Could be more?"

"Come with me." We walked to the back of the house and I had him look in the direction of the old house's main gate. We could just see the top of the ornamental pillars. "There is a carriageway all the way from those gates to where the old house stood up there on the mound. I think the carriageway is paved with these setts all the way. Then there is a forecourt which is also paved with them. I reckon there are more than enough to make a good forecourt here."

"I go look tomorrow, Boss. If you are right then I am sure there will be enough. It make good forecourt."

Tina was bubbling when I came down to the office the next day. She had put the post on my desk and right on the top was a letter from Huddingtons. I read it and had to laugh. Tina came in with a mug of coffee for me. "Isn't it strange that these things get discovered when you ask a simple question." She grinned.

I nodded in agreement. "It gets better." I told her. The letter from Huddingtons was brief, polite and contrite. They were so sorry that an amount for drainage and the management contract exchange fee had inadvertently been posted to my account. Please find enclosed a cheque for those amounts. It went on that a change of business policy meant they would no longer be able to handle the estate business in future and herewith give three months notice. They mentioned other estate agents who could handle the business for me.

"Bugger!" Tina spat the word as if it came from a machine gun. "They have swindled me out of the pleasure of having a stand up, knock down fight with them." She steamed with fury for a moment and then running out of steam asked. "What gets better?"

"It would appear that there is a lot more acreage under plough than the one hundred and twenty acres supposedly rented. Now I want you to phone Huddingtons. I want you to be very polite and sweet and of course we accept with regret, their notice of withdrawing from the agency. I want you to request of them the records of how many acres are rented and to whom, so we can look for another agency to handle the business."

Tina put on a face of disappointment. "Do I have to be very polite and sweet?"

"I would prefer it if you did."

She stamped out of my office. "You don't let me have any fun at all."

I shouted after her. "Thanks for the coffee."

"I put strychnine in it!" She shouted back.

Within a few minutes I could hear Tina on the phone. She had put her posh voice on and was, as I asked sweetness and light. The last part of her conversation was particularly sugary. "Oh that is so good of you. Yes, we do understand, mistakes happen. Thank you so much, you have been of great help." She came into my office looking as if she wanted to throw up. "If you ever ask me to do that again I will kill you."

"The coffee was very good." I told her then clutched my throat and rocked back in my chair screaming Agh! It burns." Tina just laughed.

"What will you do about the acres being used but not being paid for?"

"I think we should wait until we get a reply from Huddingtons. Then we will know who rents what."

"Then I can chase them uphill and down dale."

"Yes, Tracey. I can see you getting all East-End with them and creating mayhem. If I am going to live there, I would like it to be with neighbours who are friends." I waited for her response but none came. "Ok, Tina. What else in this pile do I have to pay attention to."

"Mr. Anders has written to say they will not complete for at least six months. He confirms the price you agreed, but the project has been put back for six months."

"Right. Well you can write in your best solicitor fashion and agree that the price will be held for six months. Any further delay and we will deem the contract null and void. If they still want the properties the price will have to be re-negotiated."

"Yes, Daniel. That's more like it. Oh, I would love to be a fly on the wall when he reads that." I often wondered about Tina. She only seems to be happy when there is aggression in the air.

The delay gave me time to find properties I could offer to the displaced tenants of the houses Anders wanted to buy. That was good, the downside was that without his four million I would have to dig deep into my reserves to finance new property and the restoration of the Dower House. In one way I looked forward to Anders not completing in time as I would then re-negotiate a better deal.

Three days later we received the details from Huddingtons of the land rented an the names of the farmers. I smiled when I read that Reggie Somers rented forty acres. He had said that he farmed sixty so the majority of his farm consisted of my land. I compared Huddingtons land plan with the land registry plan that I had marked up. My smile was even wider. It would seem possible that Mr. Somers was using six acres of my land apart from the land he paid rent for. It was possible that others of the farmers were doing the same as the land under cultivation which was not detailed on Huddington's plan was contiguous with land rented. Of course I couldn't accuse them outright. Tina came in and quickly caught up the discrepancies. She smiled evilly. "What are you going to do, Daniel?"

"We should write to all the farmers, politely! Explaining that I am now the owner of the estate and that in future they should pay their rent as usual but to me at this address. You should put in a paragraph asking them to confirm the land they rented."