CHAPTER SEVENThe Marquis shut the blotter in front of him.
“I think that is all for today,” he said to Monsieur Bouvais.
There was a smile on Monsieur Bouvais’s face as he picked up the papers in front of him.
“I am afraid, monsieur,” he said, “that this is going to give you a great deal to do.”
“I enjoy the work,” the Marquis answered. “I am only tied at the moment, as you well know, by not having enough money.”
He glanced at a beautiful picture over the mantelpiece as he spoke and thought with a pang of regret that he must sell it. There was no other way of achieving all he wanted to do on the estate.
Even while it hurt him to part with any of the treasures which had been so carefully and secretly preserved, he knew it was inevitable.
Monsieur Bouvais picked up his notebook and al
