Джеффри Арчер - This Was a Man

Harry walked tentatively in and looked at row upon row of preliminary drawings scattered across the floor. They didn’t begin to prepare him for the huge canvas that stood on an easel in the centre of the room. He stared at a painting of the Manor House, which he had thought he knew so well. The lawn, the rose garden, the lake, the folly, the vast oaks that led your eye to the horizon. Every colour was wrong, but when put together...

When Jessica could bear it no longer she said, ‘Well? Say something, Grandpops.’

‘I only hope my latest book is half as good.’

‘But it’s a family tradition,’ insisted Emma.

‘Couldn’t we have a year off?’ mocked Sebastian.

‘Certainly not. I promised your great-grandfather that the family would always spend Christmas together, and on New Year’s Eve we would tell each other our New Year’s resolutions. So who would like to start this year?’

‘My father was even worse,’ said Samantha. ‘He made us write down our resolutions, and a year later we had to read them out to remind everyone what we’d foolishly promised.’

‘I’ve always liked your father,’ said Emma. ‘So why don’t you begin?’

‘By this time next year,’ said Samantha, ‘I will have a job.’

‘But you already have a job,’ said Emma. ‘You’re bringing up the next but one chairman of Farthings Kaufman.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Seb, looking down at his son, who was landing a model of Concorde on the floor. ‘I think he plans to be a test pilot.’

‘Then he’ll have to become chairman of British Airways,’ said Emma.

‘Perhaps he won’t want to be chairman of anything,’ suggested Grace.

‘If you had a choice, Sam,’ said Harry, ‘what job would you like?’

‘I’ve applied for a position at the Courtauld Institute, in their research department. The hours are flexible, and now Jake is going to nursery school, it would be ideal.’

‘For the more practical members of our family,’ said Sebastian, ‘it may interest them to know that employing a nanny will cost more than Sam can hope to earn as a researcher at the Courtauld.’

‘A sensible distribution of wealth,’ said Grace. ‘Two people each doing a job they want to do, and both being rewarded accordingly.’

‘What’s your New Year’s resolution, Aunt Grace?’ asked Sebastian.

‘I’ve decided to take early retirement, and will be leaving the university at the end of the academic year.’

‘Come and join us in the House of Lords,’ said Giles. ‘We could do with your wisdom and common sense.’

‘Thank you,’ said Grace, ‘but two Barringtons in the Upper House is quite enough. In any case, like Samantha, I’m also looking for another job.’

‘Dare one ask what?’ asked Harry.

‘I’ve applied for a teaching post at a local comprehensive, in the hope that I can help some bright young girls get into Cambridge, who might not otherwise have considered it possible.’

‘Why not boys?’ demanded Giles.

‘There are quite enough of them at Cambridge already.’

‘You put us all to shame, Aunt Grace,’ said Sebastian.

‘So what do you have planned for this year, Seb?’ retorted Grace. ‘Other than making more and more money?’

‘Let’s hope you’re right, because frankly that’s what my customers, of which you’re one, will be expecting me to do.’

‘Touché,’ said Emma.

‘Your turn, Jessica,’ said Grace. ‘I hope you plan to do something more worthwhile than chairing a bank.’

No one needed to be reminded of Jessica’s resolution a year ago: to be worthy of my great-aunt’s belief in me, and to make the best of being given a second chance.

‘I’m determined to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools.’

‘Bravo,’ said Emma.

‘Not good enough,’ said Grace. ‘We all know you’re going to achieve that. Raise the bar, young lady.’

Jessica hesitated for a moment, before she said, ‘I’ll win the Founder’s Prize.’

‘That’s more like it,’ said Grace. ‘And we’ll all be present when you accept the award.’

‘Your turn, Mama,’ said Sebastian, coming to the rescue of his daughter.

‘I’m going to join a gym and lose half a stone.’

‘But that was your resolution last year!’

‘I know,’ said Emma, ‘and now I need to lose a stone.’

‘Me too,’ said Giles, ‘but unlike Emma at least I’ve achieved last year’s resolution.’

‘Remind us?’ said Harry.

‘I swore I’d get back on the front bench and be offered a challenging portfolio now that Michael Foot had finally resigned and made way for someone who actually wants to live in Number Ten.’

‘Which portfolio has Mr Kinnock asked you to shadow?’ asked Grace.

Giles couldn’t help grinning.

‘No,’ said Emma, ‘you wouldn’t dare! I presume you turned him down?’

‘I couldn’t resist it,’ said Giles. ‘So my New Year’s resolution is to frustrate, harass and cause as many problems as possible for the government, and in particular its minister for health.’

‘You’re a rat!’ said Emma.

‘No, to be fair, sis, I’m a rat catcher.’

‘Time out,’ said Harry, laughing. ‘Before you two come to blows, who’s next?’

‘Freddie, perhaps?’ suggested Karin.

It had been Freddie’s first Christmas at the Manor House, and Jessica had mothered him like an only child, while Jake never seemed to be more than a few steps behind his new friend.

‘My New Year’s resolution,’ said Freddie, ‘will be the same this year, and every year, until I have achieved it.’ Freddie may not have intended to, but he’d caught everyone’s attention. ‘I shall score a century at Lord’s, and emulate my father.’

Giles turned away, not wishing to embarrass the boy.

‘And once you’ve done that, what next?’ asked Harry, when he saw his oldest friend close to tears.

‘A double century, Sir Harry,’ said Freddie without hesitation.

‘It won’t be difficult to work out what you’ll want the following year, once you’ve achieved that,’ said Grace.

Everyone laughed.

‘Now it’s your turn, Karin,’ said Emma.

‘I’ve decided to run the London Marathon, and to raise money for immigrants who want to go to university.’

‘How far is a marathon?’ asked Samantha.

‘Just over twenty-six miles.’

‘Rather you than me. But put me down for five pounds a mile.’

‘That’s very generous, Sam,’ said Karin.

‘Me too,’ said Sebastian.

‘And me,’ added Giles.

‘Thank you, but no thank you,’ said Karin, taking a notebook from her pocket. ‘I already had Samantha down for five pounds a mile, and the rest of you will be expected to give the same proportion of your income.’

‘Help,’ said Sebastian.

‘I’ll be coming to you last,’ said Karin, smiling at Seb before consulting her list. ‘Grace is down for twenty-five pounds a mile, Emma and Harry fifty pounds each, and Giles one hundred. And Sebastian, as you’re chairman of the bank, I’ve got you down for a thousand pounds a mile. That adds up to —’ she once again consulted her notebook — ‘thirty-one thousand, nine hundred and eighty pounds.’

‘Can I put in a plea on behalf of an immigrant art student from the new world, who isn’t at all sure who her parents are, and has unfortunately lost her scholarship?’ Everyone laughed. ‘And what’s more, Freddie, Jake and I would each like to give ten pounds a mile.’

‘But that would cost you seven hundred and eighty pounds,’ said her father. ‘So I have to ask, how do you intend to pay?’

‘The bank will be requiring a portrait of its chairman to hang in the boardroom,’ said Jessica. ‘Guess who they’re about to commission, and what her fee will be?’