Elise didn’t hesitate. ‘Oh, what a good idea! It’d be wonderful if I didn’t have to keep the place ready for someone to be shown round at any time. I’m not good at keeping things immaculately tidy when I’m working.’

‘There’s just one thing: you might not like what he wants to do with it.’

‘Go on.’

‘He’s a developer. He wants to knock this house down and build three modern houses in its place. People actually prefer smaller gardens these days.’

‘It won’t matter what he wants to do with it if I’m leaving anyway. What matters is how much he’s willing to pay. I’ll have to get some assessments made to find out what’s reasonable.’

Mary took a deep breath. ‘Um, we did some research into that before we brought him in. We weren’t trying to cheat you, honestly. We were trying to get you the best price.’

Elise stared at her niece. ‘You know what: I have an idea.’

‘Oh?’ Mary still sounded apprehensive.

‘Why don’t I pay you to sell the house for me? I’ll give you one per cent of the price you get for me if you’ll take all the hassle off my hands.’

Mary’s jaw dropped and she made a little choking noise in her throat. ‘You’d trust me to do that?’

‘Yes. But Victor’s nephew will be handling the legal side, so I shall have someone else involved and able to keep an eye on you. I don’t think I really need to, though, do you?’

Mary shook her head, then burst into tears.

They were such great, gulping sobs that Elise didn’t think selling her house was the cause. ‘Tell me why you’re upset. You had an anxious look to you when you arrived.’

‘It’s Ian. He’s hopeless with money and he recently invested our savings without telling me in a stupid scheme which is losing money not making it. I’m furious with him! And upset about the money. We worked hard for it, saved carefully for years and now we’ve less to fall back on than we had five years ago. All that hard work down the drain. It’d be a godsend to earn a chunk of money to put away for our old age. And I wouldn’t let him get his hands on it.’

Elise got up and gave Mary a hug, which made her niece stiffen for a moment, then hug her briefly back and murmur, ‘Thank you, Auntie.’

Another thing she’d learnt in her long life was that people could always surprise you. She smiled at her niece. ‘You’ll be a godsend to me as well, actually. I’m not interested in business as long as I have enough to live on. What I really want is to get on with my painting, seize the moment, not have to haggle with men who’re trying to get the better of me. The Blyne Gallery wants to put on an exhibition of my work, you see.’

Mary stared at her in shock. ‘To sell them, you mean? The Blyne Gallery? That’s not just a fond hope?’