‘I don’t know how to thank you, my dear, dear friend.’

‘Nice to be of use to someone. I’ve been feeling a bit past my use-by date recently.’

He patted her hand again and she gave him a tremulous smile.

Victor’s nephew arrived a short time later, accompanied by an older man.

‘Gordon, this is my very dear friend, Elise Carlton.’

She shook hands with him. ‘You look like your uncle did at your age.’

‘He’s not that good-looking,’ Victor joked. ‘And this is Peter, our highly respected head clerk.’

‘I think I’ve met you before, Peter, haven’t I?’

‘Yes, and it’s nice to see you again, Mrs Carlton. I’m sure you’ll cheer Mr Pinkett up. He could do with some company.’

The nephew didn’t waste much time on greetings, but demanded to know what the crisis was. After listening to their tale, he said crisply, ‘Your niece wasn’t telling you the truth. You can revoke that power of attorney quite easily. In fact, Peter can handle it for you.’

‘Didn’t I just say he was a sharp fellow?’ Victor said to Elise.

Gordon asked her to write a letter cancelling the power of attorney and he witnessed her signature before handing the papers to Peter.

Someone drove up to the house just then and Victor went to peer out of the window.

‘Your nieces didn’t waste much time pursuing you, did they?’

Elise hauled herself to her feet and limped across to join him. ‘Good heavens, both of them! And who’s that getting out of the other car?’

Gordon joined them at the window. ‘She’s a social worker. Nice enough woman. I’ve dealt with her before. They must have brought her in on this. I wonder what sort of tale they spun to get her here.’ He grinned at his uncle. ‘Good thing you didn’t waste any time sending for me, eh?’

‘No one’s ever accused me of being stupid.’

He patted the old man affectionately on the back. ‘And I shan’t be the first to do so.’

Victor turned to Elise. ‘I’ll let them in. You need to sit down. You’re looking wobbly.’

He was looking wobbly too but she didn’t say that. He seemed so happy to be helping her.

He flung open the front door as the bell rang for the second time. ‘Impatient, aren’t you?’

Mary tried to push past him. ‘We’re worried about my aunt, Mr Pinkett. I know she’s here. Where else could she go? Anyway, I saw her at the window.’

Victor put out his arm to prevent her entering. ‘And who is this?’ He looked at the older woman questioningly.

Gordon came into the hall. ‘This is Jenny Williams, Uncle. Haven’t seen you for a while, Jenny. This is my uncle Victor, who’s been a friend of Mrs Carlton since before I was born. May they come in, Uncle?’

‘As long as they don’t badger poor Elise any more. She’s very tired after having had to escape wrongful imprisonment.’

The social worker looked at him in surprise, then turned to Gordon. ‘How is Mrs Carlton?’