This Was A Man by Jeffrey Archer

requesting that she pay back the full amount, and give her thirty days to respond. I find it
hard to believe she won’t want to make some sort of settlement rather than be declared bankrupt and even face the possibility of being arrested for fraud.’
    ‘And if she doesn’t . . . because I have a feeling she won’t,’ said Ellie May.
    ‘You will have to decide whether or not to issue a writ, with the strong possibility that not one penny will be recovered, in which case you will still have to pay your own legal costs,
which will not be insubstantial.’ Goodman paused before adding, ‘On balance, I would advise caution. Of course, the decision is yours. But as I have pointed out, Mrs Grant, that could
end up costing you a great deal of money, with no guarantee of any return.’
    ‘If that bitch ends up bankrupt, humiliated and having to face a spell in prison, it will have been worth every penny.’

    Harry and Emma joined Giles and Karin for a fortnight at Mulgelrie Castle, their maternal grandfather’s family home in Scotland, and whenever the phone rang, it was almost
always for Emma, and when red boxes arrived, Giles had to get used to not opening them.
    Her brother was able to advise the fledgling minister on how to deal with civil servants who seemed to have forgotten she was on holiday, and political journalists who were desperate for an
August story while the House wasn’t sitting. And whenever they took a stroll on the grouse moors together, Giles answered all his sister’s myriad questions, sharing with her his years
of experience as a minister in the Lords, so that by the time she returned to London, Emma felt she hadn’t so much had a holiday as attended several advanced seminars on government.
    After Emma and Harry had departed, Giles and Karin stayed on for another couple of weeks. Giles had something else he needed to do before he attended the party conference in Brighton.

    ‘Thank you for agreeing to see me, Archie.’
    ‘My pleasure,’ said the tenth Earl of Fenwick. ‘I will never forget your kindness when I took my father’s seat in the House and made my maiden speech.’
    ‘It was very well received,’ said Giles. ‘Even though you did attack the government.’
    ‘And I intend to be equally critical of the Conservatives, if their farming policy is as antiquarian as yours. But tell me, Giles, to what do I owe this honour, because you’ve never
struck me as a man who has time to waste.’
    ‘I confess,’ said Giles as Archie handed him a large glass of whisky, ‘that I’m a seeker after information concerning a family matter.’
    ‘It wouldn’t be your ex-wife Virginia you’re curious about, by any chance?’
    ‘Got it in one. I was rather hoping you could bring me up to date on what your sister’s been doing lately. I’ll explain why later.’
    ‘I only wish I could,’ said Archie, ‘but I can’t pretend we’re that close. The only thing I know for sure is that Virginia’s penniless once again, even though
I have abided by the terms of my father’s will, and continued to supply her with a monthly allowance. But it won’t be nearly enough to deal with her present problems.’
    Giles sipped his whisky. ‘Could one of the problems be the Hon. Freddie Fenwick?’
    Archie didn’t reply immediately. ‘One thing we now know for certain,’ he eventually said, ‘is that Freddie is not Virginia’s son and, perhaps more interestingly, my
father must have known that long before he left her only one bequest in his will.’
    ‘The bottle of Maker’s Mark,’ said Giles.
    ‘Yes. That had me puzzled for some time,’ admitted Archie, ‘until I had a visit from a Mrs Ellie May Grant of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who explained that it was her husband
Cyrus’s favourite brand of whisky. She then told me in great detail what had taken place on her husband’s visit to London when he had the misfortune to encounter Virginia. But I’m
still in the dark as to how she got