PIKE Oh, thanks. What kind of … (His suspicion has been aroused.) Thumbs Up Cola? You know, I think maybe I won’t.

DILIP (Misunderstanding) I got two—really—I drank mine while I was talking to the shopkeeper. It is as I thought. The dak bungalow was exactly here, in the courtyard. Of course, the flats did not exist. I’m afraid nothing you can see goes back to before the war.

PIKE No … That’s a shame.

DILIP Except the tree, perhaps.

PIKE (Brightening) Oh, yes. The tree. That’s right. She mentions a tree.

DILIP The old man remembers the bungalow very well. It was destroyed. A casualty of Partition.

PIKE Taken apart?

DILIP Burned, in the riots. There were many people killed here in ‘47.

PIKE Partition. Oh, yes … terrible … Would this be the same tree?

DILIP Probably. It looks old.

PIKE Would you take my picture? … on the spot.

DILIP Yes, certainly.

PIKE This is so good of you, Dilip.

DILIP No, no, it is a red letter day for the fellowship of teachers of English literature!

Pike takes a camera from his bag and gives it to Dilip.

PIKE It’s self-focusing … just press the … (He positions himself.) I could take out an ad … in the newspaper. Someone may remember an artist … Go back a bit … show more of the …

DILIP No, the 35 is fine. Do you mind if I take it off auto? … stop it down for the background … F8 …

PIKE Oh … sure.

DILIP Yes, why not?—put an advert in the paper. Ready? (He takes the photo.)

PIKE Thank you. I’ll take one of you.

DILIP All right. (Adjusting the camera) On 50. More of Dilip. (They change places, Pike taking the camera. Dilip has a bag from which he takes The Collected Letters of Flora Crewe, to hold it for his photograph.) After all … fifty-six years … he could be still alive … he’d only have to be …

PIKE Ninety.

DILIP Yes, probably not. Is this all right?

PIKE The other thing is … What do I do?

DILIP Just point it.

PIKE The other thing is, Dilip … Here we go. (He takes the picture.)

DILIP Thank you.

PIKE The other thing is, there was the watercolour. A lost portrait, a nude. That’s the way it reads to me. Don’t you think so?

DILIP (Laughs) Oh yes, I think that’s the way it reads to you, Eldon, but she was a poet … and you’re a biographer! A lost portrait would be just the ticket.

PIKE How about offering a reward?

DILIP A reward?

PIKE For information leading to. If the local paper did a story about it … I bet that would get results.

DILIP Undoubtedly. Your hotel will be stormed by a mob waving authentic watercolour portraits of English ladies in every stage of undress.

PIKE I should get a shot from above, with the tree … Could one get on the roof, do you think?