“I prefer them to her others,” Julia said. “She didn’t hide anything in them.”

“You wanted dad to sell them, didn’t you?”

“No need to make me sound so mercenary, Roy. More people would have had a chance to see them.”

“Suppose they were messages meant just for Patrick?” Bella said.

I blinked at them but saw none. Roy held the door open for Bella, and I heard their footsteps go downstairs, largely his. We were in the kitchen, where I scraped plates above the bin before Julia filed them with considered precision in the dishwasher, when she said not entirely to herself “A bit fey.”

“Young Bella, you mean.”

“Young in some ways.”

She said this so ruminatively that I felt compelled to wait for more, but eventually I had to say “So your overall impression…”

“He could do a lot worse for his first real girlfriend, and I wonder if she’ll be more than that. I just hope they grow out of your aunt and what she left behind.”

“You’ll remember you know somebody who hasn’t.”

“There’s more than that you haven’t outgrown, Patrick.”

This could have revived an argument that neither of us wanted. Silence seemed wisest, and we didn’t speak again until we left the kitchen. “You just wanted that word about Bella,” I said.

“If we’re agreed that she ought to be good for him.”

“I should think so. You saw him being a gentleman on their way out, didn’t you? We’ve brought him up right after all.”

“I don’t know what you mean by after all.”

I could have cited her doubts about Thelma’s influence, but thought it best to restrain even a shrug. “Thank you again for caring,” I said.

“I hope you don’t think I’d do anything else.”

I avoided taking this one way it could be interpreted. “Still, you’re very kind.”

“Let me know if there’s anything more I can do, and of course when the funeral will be.”

“I will, of course.”

This seemed to use our words up. I held the door open for Julia, only to feel as though I was demonstrating I’d been Roy’s model. “Don’t bother coming down,” she said and turned her face aside to save her mouth from my approaching kiss, which landed none too firmly on her cheek. “Look after yourself, Patrick,” she said.