A Battle of Brains Read Free

which I hope to leave, when I die, to the National Gallery.”
    The Earl was obviously impressed.
    And as Mr. Garrack bowed himself away, Yolanda remembered her mother saying,
    â€œI don’t want to be in his collection, darling, only in yours .”
    The Earl had laughed.
    â€œWhich is so small that at the moment it does not exist except in my mind!”
    Yolanda had, she recalled, somehow felt glad that they need not be troubled further with Mr. Garrack.
    Yet it was he who came to their rescue in their darkest hour.
    The day after her father was buried, her mother was presented with a very large bill by the hotel.
    She and Yolanda were both in the sitting room of their suite when she received the bill.
    When the servant had left them the Countess said in a small, frightened voice,
    â€œWhatever am I to do now, Yolanda?  I have only my engagement ring to sell, but I doubt if that will give us enough money to pay this enormous bill.”
    Yolanda was well aware that her father had been so certain the horse he fancied was going to win.
    He had pawned most of her mother’s best jewellery and then sold some of her other pieces to finance even more bets.
    Looking at the bill searchingly as if she thought that somehow there must be a mistake, the Countess asked again,
    â€œWhat am I to do?  Oh, darling, what can I do?”
    As she spoke there was a knock at the door.
    Because her mother was crying, Yolanda jumped up to answer it, as she would not want the servants or anyone else to see her tears.
    Outside was Mr. Garrack.
    He was well dressed and sporting an orchid in his buttonhole.
    Yolanda felt that they had no wish to talk to him at this traumatic moment.
    â€œI would like to see your mother – ” he began.
    â€œI am afraid that Mama is not receiving – ”
    Then to her great surprise and before she had even finished speaking, he pushed past her into the sitting room.
    He crossed over the room to where her mother was sitting with a handkerchief held to her eyes.
    He went down on one knee beside her.
    â€œYou must not weep, my beautiful lady,” Yolanda heard him say.  “I cannot bear to see you so unhappy.”
    Yolanda thought that it would be embarrassing for her mother if she listened to what Mr. Garrack was saying to her, so she went into the bedroom, but did not close the door.
    She could hear her mother, weak and tearful.
    And next came Mr. Garrack’s voice, sympathetic and flattering.
    She could not hear exactly what was said, only the tone of their voices.
    Her mother’s was low and quieter whilst Mr. Garrack’s was more determined, as if he was fighting to get his own way.
    Yolanda could not think what the conversation was all about, unless he was once again pressing his longing for a portrait of her mother.
    If he was, she considered it rather bad taste at this particular moment.
    Anyway it would be impossible for them to stay in Paris without any money and equally impossible, she now feared, to leave.
    She sat wondering anxiously what they could do, wracking her brain for a solution to their hopeless situation.
    For the first time in her life she began to query why they had so few relations.  She had thought about it before, but had not actually asked any questions.
    She knew that her mother’s family, who were very distinguished, lived in the North of England.  It was a long way from London, she mused, so maybe that was the reason she had not met any of them.
    Her father’s family, if he had any, must live somewhere in the rural County of Hertfordshire where the family home was situated, she concluded.
    â€˜I must ask Mama,’ she had said to herself, ‘if there is anyone we can turn to now that things are so desperate.’
    It seemed to Yolanda as if hours passed.
    At last she could hear Mr. Garrack saying goodbye to her mother and walking across the room to the door.
    â€œI will order dinner for eight