The Antiquarian Read Free Page A

step ahead of us in this, too.”
    â€œSo Artur, tell us: what’s so important that it made you forget our little gathering?” asked Guillem. “As far as I can recall, it’s the first time something like this has happened in the past two years.”
    â€œThere’s nothing special about it. Like I said, it was just the love for my work. I was sorting through the manuscripts and books of my latest acquisition. That’s what made it slip my mind. And it was only a slight slip, wasn’t it? After all, you can’t say I didn’t surprise you with my succulent blend.”
    â€œGentlemen,” said Guillem, standing and doffing an imaginary hat, “let us salute the old master. He has astonished us yet again.”
    The friends laughed in unison. This was vintage Guillem, always spontaneous and cheerful.
    â€œSo Artur, was it a big lot?” inquired Enric.
    â€œIt was. It comprised all the furnishings, including a fabulous library of some five hundred volumes, from an old mansion near Ripoll that belonged to the Bergués family.We moved it all down here last Tuesday, and I’ve already started appraising the furniture. Does the family name ring any bells?”
    The three men looked at one another, concentrating not just to answer Artur’s question, but to take part in a new game that put their own professional mettle to the test. Samuel was the only one to pipe up.
    â€œI seem to remember that surname having to do with the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A family that belonged to the budding bourgeoisie of the time, they eventually purchased a title. Honorable citizens. Did they have something to do with “La Biga”—you know, those families who controlled business and politics in Barcelona back then?”
    â€œYour memory is, as always, prodigious,” Artur said, smiling at Samuel’s display. “Yes, they started out as builders, architects. But in the mid-sixteenth century they changed their primary activity and began importing salt-cured foods. They continued doing this until the end of the eighteenth century, when the main part of the family found itself without direct descendants, although there were a few ‘indirects’ who held a certain influence on Catalan civil society. In the end, their fortune dwindled, and they scattered into rural properties of little standing throughout the principality.”
    â€œIf that’s the case, you must have found yourself a nice piece or two,” said Guillem, without concealing his burgeoning interest.
    â€œYes. The furnishings are from later periods, especially the eighteenth century, and have been kept in fine shape. They won’t be too expensive to restore, and I think they’ll sell quite well. The best part is a collection of document chests and wardrobe trunks that are just beautiful. But aside from the furniture, what is exceptionally attractive about this lot are the books from the library. It’s a huge collection, with two incunabula infairly decent condition. The rest of the library is nothing to sniff at either, though the value of the books will have more to do with what’s inside them than their covers.”
    Artur now kept deliberately quiet, focusing on properly stirring a small sugar cube in his demitasse. He relished in the gentle grate of metal over the delicate porcelain, as much as or more than he did the expectation his silence caused.
    â€œMy old friend, you do enjoy torturing your guests,” interjected Samuel, winking at him. “Anyone of even the slightest sensibilities wouldn’t keep such a silence on purpose, unless he had a trump card up his sleeve.”
    â€œFine! You’ve caught me!” The host grinned mischievously. “Making his friends suffer—friends who are his competitors, no less—is one of the autumnal pleasures of this poor old man. Listen, the books run the gamut, and as a collection could even be