Free The Etruscan Net by Michael Gilbert Page B

exemption from taxation and death duties. Is that right?’
    Harfield Moss dived happily into the complexities of American tax law, and Miss Plant began to wish she had never raised the subject. She switched her fire across the table, and said, ‘You must find the Gallery an interesting place, Mr Broke. All those books. It gives me a headache just to think of them.’
    ‘I don’t have to read them all,’ said Broke. ‘Only sell them.’ Something Moss had been saying had caught his attention. ‘Were you telling us that something startling had come up lately in your field? I thought the discoveries at Caere were the last big find–?’
    ‘I wouldn’t just assert that it has come up. It would be more accurate to say that it is in course of coming up. Two or three of our major institutions have been warned–’ Here Moss punctuated his sentence by twirling a forkful of pasta round and inserting it in his mouth, leaving his audience in suspense. He consumed the mouthful placidly and concluded ‘– have been warned to be on the look out.’
    ‘On the look out for what?’ said Elizabeth.
    ‘If I knew that, Miss Weighill, I’d have a piece of information which a lot of collectors would give a good deal to possess. It could be silver-ware, or jewellery. The last big item to reach the American market was that silver helmet in the Chicago Museum. I happen to know what the museum authorities paid for that, and it was plenty.’
    ‘How do these things get to America?’ said Tessa. ‘I thought the Italians wouldn’t let them out of the country.’
    ‘That’s the sort of question you mustn’t ask,’ said Sir Gerald.
    ‘Actually,’ said Moss, ‘I don’t know. As a collector, I simply pay my money – my institution’s money, I should say – to a reputable shipping agency in Rome. They pull whatever strings may be necessary. I ask no questions.’
    ‘But suppose whatever you’d bought didn’t arrive?’
    ‘I should be very upset,’ said Moss gravely.
    ‘I won’t have you grilling my guests,’ said Sir Gerald. He turned to the Sindaco, and said, ‘What’s going to happen at the next election?’
    ‘That is a question which is worrying a lot of people,’ said Trentanuove. ‘I myself am, as you know, a Communist.’ He grinned, and his teeth showed white under his gangster moustache. ‘That is a statement I should have to apologize for, in England. Yes?’
    ‘It’s something you’d have to keep pretty quiet about,’ agreed Sir Gerald.
    ‘In Italy it is possible to be proud of it. People still remember that the Communists were the best fighters. You agree, my old friend?’
    ‘They were very good fighters,’ said Broke. He said it as though his thoughts were a long way off. ‘Not the only ones, though. The most bloodthirsty partisan I ever met was a Quaker.’ It was clear that everyone would have liked to have heard about the bloodthirsty Quaker, but Broke had continued quietly with his meal.
    ‘As I was saying,’ said the Sindaco, ‘I make no secret of my support for the Communist party. I think we shall do well at the National Elections next month. Not well enough to form a Government of our own, but well enough to secure some of the key posts for our men.’
    ‘I’m a bit confused,’ said Elizabeth. ‘What sort of Government have you got? I mean it’s not straightforward like us. Labour or Tory.’
    ‘What we have at the moment is a Government of the left centre. Basically it is Social-Democrat, with Ecclesiastical and Liberal support.’
    ‘How many parties have you got?’
    ‘At the last complete count, thirty-seven. But only seven of them are important. They range from the Communists, on the left, to the Citizens’ Union on the right. According to the way the votes go between those parties, you construct a government of a right, centre, or left complexion.’
    ‘Like mixing face powder,’ said Elizabeth. ‘So much red, so much white, and a little natural tan