Free A Splash of Red by Antonia Fraser Page B

could do to an interior within a very short space of time. Did Adam intend to dwell here alone and if so for how long? A single rather slight man would not be very difficult for Sir Richard Lionnel's minions to eject. Perhaps he envisaged moving in some allies. On the other hand it was possible he contemplated a mere token occupation and would depart, leaving as he had suggested blow-ups of the original Adam designs on Sir Richard's dark blue walls as an artistic reproach.
    Jemima's loyalty was towards her old friend. If squatters occupied number 73 in earnest, so that there was a prolonged siege, the value of Chloe's property stood to diminish drastically. Chloe, with all her faults, was a woman alone in the world supporting herself by her own -hard - labours. She probably also contributed to the welfare, if not the happiness, of the Stovers of Folkestone. Since it was not suggested that number 73 was to be left empty - indeed the Lion of Bloomsbury was intending to occupy one portion of it personally - she was not at all sure that a squat was morally justified by her own standards, if it proved financially damaging to Chloe. This was after all an aesthetic protest, not the housing of the homeless.
    At the same time the architecture of this latest addition to Adelaide Square was brutally displeasing. If Sir Richard proposed further similar intrusions and had somehow bamboozled the powers-that-were into accepting them, there was a case to be made for popular protests. That might secure what lawful authority had failed to protect.
    Jemima found herself toying with the problem, despite herself, in professional television terms. 'The Lion of Bloomsbury or Sir Richard the Lionnelheart?' (She had read some colour magazine article about the tycoon under the latter heading.) Excellent visual material available; an entertaining interview with Adam Adamson; a cool deliberately low-key one with Sir Richard Lionnel: let him damn himself out of his own mouth if necessary: Jemima Shore, Investigator, knew exactly how to conduct that kind of interview. Guiltily she remembered the claims of the British Library and the Edwardian lady philanthropists.
    Gathering Tiger into her arms, Jemima said hastily: 'No time for the present to talk about me. But I've much enjoyed hearing about you. ’ Tiger wriggled in her arms and his fierce green eyes gazed at her with indignation. 'Look, I must be off. I hav e an appointment.' Let her sort out her correct attitude to Adam Adamson and his fellow Friends of the House in peace, rather than under his enquiring squirrel's gaze. She did not, for one thing, like the sound of that future project, whatever it might be, planned by the demonstrators. It might be her duty to Chloe to find out a little more about it.
    'Yes, why don't you think it over by yourself?' said Adam with a smile as though she had spoken. 'And then, my dear goddess, I am convinced that you will join us in our cause, bringing all the powers of your fellow gods and goddesses to our aid.' Was he mocking her and was that a glancing reference to the might of Megalith Television?
    'But do tell me before you go, exactly what brought you, you with your archaic smile, to Adelaide Square from Mount Olympus? Or wherever it is you generally inhabit. I sense a mystery here.'
    'I had better tell you plainly that I am not a squatter - revivifier,' Jemima said quickly as she left the flat. 'I've been lent the penthouse by a friend as a matter of fact. A straightforward tenant. They do exist.'
    She did not wait to see Adam Adamson's reaction to this bold announcement. Back in the penthouse she deposited Tiger, fed him and checked that the balcony window was open for his egresses during her absence. How delightful and bleached and open the penthouse seemed! Like a glorious sandy seaside after the murky cavern of the third floor. Not all the works of the Lionnel Estate were bad.
    She would have preferred to have eaten a quick meal there; but she had finished