Free Tiger Ragtime by Catrin Collier Page A

that faced the street. He also noticed that the woodwork had been freshly painted and the ornamental brickwork around the windows and doors newly pointed.
    ‘It used to be a hotel, but,’ Geoff hesitated before adding, ‘times are hard.’
    ‘The bank repossessed it?’ Aled guessed from the recent renovations.
    ‘Not many visitors to the docks can afford hotel prices now that trade has slumped and those who can tend to stay at the Windsor since they reduced their room rate. As for ordinary sailors – they can no longer be sure how long they’ll have to stay in the port, so they’re reluctant to even pay for a bed in a doss house.’ Geoff opened the door.
    Aled walked ahead of him into an imposing hall that housed an enormous, elegant, curved staircase, two sets of double and two single doors. ‘This is a waste of space.’
    ‘The last owner had the reception desk here.’ Geoff opened the double doors on their right and they walked into a large, empty room that had been stripped back to the bare walls and floorboards. ‘This was the residents’ sitting room.’
    Aled saw a door in the back wall. ‘Where does that lead?’
    ‘Offices and lavatories.’ Geoff opened the door. Aled looked up and down a narrow corridor. There were two doors marked LADIES and GENTLEMEN and another marked OFFICE.
    ‘What else is on this floor?’
    ‘There’s a smaller room to the left of the hall that was used as a bar.’
    Aled walked back through the hall, opened the second set of double doors, and looked inside. A bar ran the width of the back wall, but like the sitting room there was neither flooring nor furniture. He returned to the hall. ‘Where do those two doors lead?’
    ‘One to the servants’ back staircase, the other to the stairs down to the cellar.’
    Aled ran up the grand staircase. Three corridors opened off a wide galleried landing.
    ‘There are fifteen double bedrooms, two bathrooms and three lavatories on this floor,’ Geoff Arnold said, panting breathlessly as he caught up with him.
    ‘You’re very familiar with this place.’
    ‘I enforced the repossession order for the bank and arranged the auction of fixtures and fittings.’
    ‘And bought the building at a knockdown price?’ Aled guessed shrewdly.
    ‘I paid off the remaining mortgage. The bank directors were happy.’
    ‘I bet they were. Where’s the staircase to the next floor?’
    Geoff opened one of the doors. Aled walked up a plain narrow staircase to the top floor. ‘Were these servants’ quarters?’
    ‘The family’s living accommodation.’ Geoff opened the doors in turn. ‘Sitting room, drawing room, dining room, four bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and study. And, as you see, all well-proportioned. There are four attic rooms, which were used to house the maids.’
    Aled stood and looked around thoughtfully. ‘The asking price?’
    ‘Fifteen hundred pounds, freehold. I think you’ll agree it is very reasonable for a place of this size.’
    ‘It would have been two years ago.’
    ‘The slump can’t last, Mr James.’
    ‘No, it can’t, Mr Arnold. I’ve just comes from the United States and I’ve seen first-hand what’s happened there since the Wall Street crash in twenty-nine. It can only be a matter of time before we hit a full economic depression here. In my opinion it’s going to get a great deal worse before it gets better. It will be years before this place is worth fifteen hundred pounds again. I’ll give you eight hundred pounds for it. Cash.’
    ‘That’s ridiculous …’
    ‘Cash,’ Aled repeated. Growing up in abject poverty had made him cautious with his money. He had placed the bulk of his fortune in gilt-edged banker’s drafts because they were portable, independent of the commodities markets and easy to realise in any country in the world. ‘You or the bank – and, from the way you operate, I guess the bank before you bought it from the directors – have had time to repair and repaint this place