ÉTRANGER — GROUPE 1, SESSION DE JUIN 1995 LANGUE VIVANTE 2 - SÉRIE L

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Use the weekend positively, Zoe told herself. Don't just sit back and let Lowell do this to you. Make good use of his absence. Now is your chance to see Sir Howard. He got him a job before. He'll get him another. Use your gumption. Move.

5 It was a bright breezy Saturday morning and the drive to Sir Howard' s country house in Worcestershire was pleasant. Zoe arri-ved without a preliminary phone call — it was better to chance his being out than give him the opportunity of arranging to be out —and found the family at lunch. They invite(' her to join them, but

10 she declined; she had had a snack on the way. She accepted coffee.

Sir Howard, sensing stress, suggested adding a clash of Cointreau to liven it — or would she prefer whisky? He called her "love" in his broad Midland accent and she felt comfortable with him.

He didn't feel altogether comfortable with her. This young woman 15 with the frizzy hair-do and determined expression wasn't here so-cially. She wanted to see him about Lowell — again.

His wife had guessed this, too. It would be tactful to chat brie-fly over a second cup of coffee and then withdraw. Murmuring a vague excuse a short while later, she left them to it.

20 "How is Lowell?" Howard asked, and sat back to listen while she told him.

Sensing that he might know the truth already, Zoe didn't bother wrapping it up in a tissue of excuses. Lowell hadn't liked his job. It hadn't suited his temperament. He had resigned. Since then he

25 had been spending his time renovating a property that had been left to him. Perhaps Howard knew about the cottage?

He had heard of it. Yes.

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Mary Marshall had been related to his sister's husband's family — but other than that, he didn't know much about her. "I believe 30 she made a living of sorts selling herbs."

Zoe described the state of the place. "In time, when Lowell has improved it, it will be sold. But not for very much. It's the long-term prospect of his unemployment that worries me. It isn't good for him emotionally. And, of course, we need the money". In case

35 he thought she had corne for a loan, she continued hastily. "My sa-lary is adequate, though our standard of living has dropped. It' s the future that bothers me. The present state of affairs just can' t go on."

Can't go on for whom? Howard wondered. This very positive young woman had married his nephew when his career was on the

40 up. In the normal way Lowell would have stayed at the top of his musical career for a long time, and they would have lived together richly — in every sense of the word. Failure was impoverishing — again in every sense of the word. The garland of success had been brutally removed and it would take a good mariage to survive its

45 lors.

"Love him?" he asked bluntly.

The question coming from this large bluff man with the small astute eyes was both surprising and embarrassing. Zoe looked past him and at the sweeping lawn outside the French window. "Of 50 course."

B.M. Gni„ Dying to meet you (1989)