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Reuben was shaken. Without moving his lips, he offered a small prayer.
The man was tall, well built, and had that kind of dark skin which is golden, and thick flowing short brown hair. He was dressed almost too exquisitely in a superbly fitted brown suit, caramel shirt, and gold-and-brown tie.
But his generous expression and easy demeanor were the real shock. His smile was immediate, his large brown eyes filled with contagious good humor, and he extended his hand to Reuben at once. He had a naturally animated face.
Everything about the man was inviting and kind.
He sat down directly opposite as Reuben knew he would, and they were eye to eye, of the same height. He leaned forward and said,
"This is a great pleasure." The voice was deep, resonant, and unaffected, without a discernible accent and very warm. "Let me thank you. I,m well aware that you had no obligation whatsoever to see me, and I,m impressed, and grateful, that you,ve come." He gestured easily with his hands as he spoke, and they were graceful hands. There was a green jewel in his gold tie clasp, and a bit of a striped silk handkerchief, that matched the tie, just visible in his breast pocket.
Reuben was powerfully fascinated, as fascinated as he was on guard. But more than anything else, he was excited and he could feel his heart beating in his throat. If he failed to make a favorable impression on this man - but then he couldn,t think of failure. All he could think was that every minute he had with the man had to count.
The man went on talking seamlessly and easily, settling back a little in the chair. He was fluid in his movements, relaxed rather than poised.
"I,m well aware that my cousin Marchent was fond of you. And you know she was so very dear to my father, his only heir."
"But you didn,t actually know Marchent, did you?" said Reuben. His voice was unsteady. What was he doing? He was off to a rocky start. "What I mean is, you,d never met."
"My father had a way of making her quite real to me," the man said without missing a beat. "I,m sure our representatives have explained to you I would never presume to make a claim on the house or the land that she wanted you to have."
"Yes, they have explained," said Reuben. "That,s reassuring. I,m happy to be here, to discuss anything you want."
The man,s easy smile was almost dazzling. His vibrant eyes indicated a warm response to Reuben personally, but Reuben was reserving judgment on that.
How could Reuben really begin? How could he cut to the point?
"I knew Marchent briefly," Reuben said, "but I think I knew her well. She was an exceptional person - ." He swallowed. "That I couldn,t protect her - "
"Now, Reuben," said Simon.
" - that I couldn,t protect her," Reuben went on. "Well, that,s something I,ll live with till my dying day."
The man nodded. There was almost a doting quality to his expression. Then he said in a soft voice, "You,re a beautiful young man."
Reuben was startled. If this guy means to kill me, he,s the devil in hell. And the man went on.
"Oh, forgive me," he said with obvious sincerity and a little concern. "I take the license of an older man in making such a remark. I,m sorry. I am not perhaps old enough to take that license but there are times when I feel considerably older than I am. I meant only that your photographs don,t do you justice. You appear conventionally beautiful in your photographs, a little remote, but in person, you,re much more remarkable." He went on with a beguiling simplicity. "I see now the writer of the articles you,ve published in the Observer. Poetic, substantive, I would say."
The lawyers sat there in rigid and obviously uncomfortable silence. But Reuben was charmed, hopeful, yet cautious. Does that mean you,re not going to kill me? - was on the tip of his tongue. Or does all this just mean you will be talking softly and beguilingly when you try to do it like that loathsome Marrok?
But this was Felix sitting here, Felix across a table from him. He had to get a grip.
"You want your father,s personal effects," Reuben said, struggling not to stammer. "His diaries, you mean? And the tablets, the ancient cuneiform tablets - ."
"Reuben," said Simon immediately, hand up to cut him off. "Let,s not discuss the details of the personal effects until Mr. Nideck has made his intentions a little more clear."
"Ancient tablets?" murmured Arthur Hammermill, shifting in his chair. "What sort of ancient tablets? This is the first I,ve heard of ancient tablets."
"Yes, my father collected many ancient cuneiform tablets during his years in the Middle East," said the man. "And indeed, these are my primary interest, I confess, and his diaries of course. His diaries are very important to me."
"Then you can read his secret writing?" Reuben asked.
He sensed a quiver in the man,s gaze.
"There,s so much of the secret writing in the house," said Reuben.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I can read the secret writing," said the man.
Reuben drew the letter to Marrok out of his pocket and pushed it across the table. "Did you perhaps write this?" he asked. "It appears to be in your father,s secret hand."
The man stared at the letter with a sober expression, but the expression wasn,t cold. He was clearly surprised.
He reached out and picked up the letter.
"How did you come by this, if I may ask?"
"If you wrote it, well, now it belongs to you."
"Would you tell me how you came by it?" he asked again with humble courtesy. "You,d be doing me a great service if you would let me know."
"It was left in the Inn in the town of Nideck for a man who thought of himself as something of a guardian for the house, and the things in the house," Reuben explained. "Not a very pleasant man. He never received it, by the way. I collected it after he,d disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"Yes, he,s gone, he,s completely disappeared."
The man registered this in silence. Then:
"You,ve met this person?" Again, the eyes became soft, probing, and the voice was warmly polite.
"Oh, yes," said Reuben. "It was quite a challenging meeting." Here we go, Reuben thought. Get it all out. Go to the very edge of the cliff. "Very challenging indeed, for me and for my companion, my friend who,s sharing the house with me. It was, well, you might say, a disastrous meeting, but not disastrous, as it turned out, for us."
The man appeared to weigh this carefully, with little change of expression. But clearly he was taken aback.
