asked Willy.
‘No,’ I said.
‘It rather depends,’ said Miriam.
‘I thought perhaps I might show you something,’ said Willy.
‘Did you now?’ said Miriam. ‘And I wonder what that might be?’
She had a habit sometimes, I noticed, when she was talking to men, of moving her cigarette between her fingers very slightly and very carefully. She was doing it now – a subtle and expressive gesture.
‘You’ll have to trust me to find out,’ said Willy.
‘Hmm. What do you think, Sefton? Should we trust Willy here to show us something? Or should we not?’ And she again moved the cigarette ever so slightly between her fingers. She had us both in the palm of her hand.
AS SO OFTEN, with so many people, and so many things, what Willy actually had to show us was something of an anticlimax. What he had to show us was a building site on Klein’s new development on the edge of Becontree. He was shouting facts and figures at us, vainly trying to impress Miriam, as lorries went thundering past.
‘You see, apart from the construction,’ he yelled, ‘there’s all the haulage and the materials themselves. So in the average house you’ve got perhaps forty thousand bricks, plus your lime and sand and cement, and then there’s your plaster and roofing tiles, fireplaces and what have you. Which is about a hundred and fifty tonnes worth per house, which has all got to be hauled to site somehow – plus your excavations. So you’re looking at quite a job.’
‘And quite a profit,’ said Miriam.
‘Exactly,’ said Willy.
‘So Mr Klein builds the houses, he provides the materials, and he provides the means by which the materials are transported? Is that right?’ said Miriam.
‘That’s right.’
‘Quite a business model.’
‘I didn’t know he was into haulage as well,’ I said.
‘Indeed he is, Sefton,’ said Willy, as a lorry nudged its way slowly through the building site towards us.
‘Quite the all-rounder, your Mr Klein,’ said Miriam.
‘You could say that. He was rather hoping in fact that Sefton here might be able to assist us with one or two of our current projects.’
‘Sefton!?’ Miriam laughed.
‘Yes.’
‘Assisting your Mr Klein?’
‘Yes.’
‘Has he met him?’
‘Thank you for that vote of encouragement, Miriam,’ I said.
‘Well anyway, he’s too late, isn’t he, your chap,’ said Miriam. ‘Sefton’s already in steady employment – working for me.’
‘And I’m sure you work him pretty hard,’ said Willy.
‘You have no idea,’ said Miriam.
I wondered how much Mr Klein might be paying.
The lorry was now reversing its way perilously close to the Lagonda.
‘There we are,’ said Willy. ‘That’s what I like to see. Another lorryload down from the quarries.’ And as if on cue, the lorry upended its vast load of sand, close enough to the Lagonda to coat it in a fine pale yellow mist.
‘Little bit close for comfort,’ said Willy. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘Lovely lorry,’ said Miriam, taking no notice of Willy: she never really cared about the things that other people cared about. I thought for a moment she’d said ‘lovely lolly’.
‘A Thornycroft Trusty,’ she continued. ‘The lorry.’
‘How on earth do you …’ began Willy. ‘This is quite a girl you have here, Sefton.’
Miriam was quite a girl, but she certainly wouldn’t thank Willy for telling her so.
‘Father’s a great admirer of Thornycrofts,’ she said. ‘He has a little Handy that he runs on the estate.’
‘Really?’ I said.
‘Who’s your father?’ asked Willy. ‘Not that it’s any of my business.’
‘Swanton Morley,’ said Miriam. ‘Not that it’s any of your business.’
‘The People’s Professor?’
‘The very man.’
‘Good stock then,’ said Willy, as if appraising a prize cow. ‘I am impressed by your choice, Sefton.’
‘Might I refer you to my earlier answer about being “with” Sefton only in the strict sense of being accompanied by him, sir. He has no more “chosen” me than he has chosen the weather. I am an entirely separate entity.’
‘An entirely separate and unpredictable entity,’ I added.
‘Thank you, Sefton,’ said Miriam. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’
‘Anyway,’ said Willy, interrupting Miriam’s teasing, ‘this is the finished article.’ He pointed to a large plain, pebble-dashed building to our left. It looked rather … municipal.
‘It’s certainly spacious,’ said Miriam.
‘It’s maisonettes, actually,’ said Willy.
‘Oh,’ said Miriam. ‘I thought you meant the whole building.’
‘No, no! That’s a dozen flats there, miss,’ said Willy.
‘How continental,’ said Miriam.
‘They’re very well appointed inside,’ said Willy.
‘I’m sure they are.’
‘Perhaps we’ll make a house call, shall we?’ said Willy. ‘See it for ourselves? Come on.’
‘We should really be getting on, Willy,’ I said.
‘Nonsense,’
