After Hannibal Read Online Free PDF Page B

on and Blemish listened carefully. These two old people were very confiding—he had no need really to ask many questions. They told him they had sold their house in Michigan. They told him what the architect’s original estimate had been, how alarmed they had felt when it had jumped up and jumped up again. They told him the point at which they had realized that they could not continue with the architect, as the estimate had reached a level beyond their resources. By the end of the recital Blemish knew within a few thousand dollars what the Greens were ready and able to spend on the conversion of their Italian house. In other words, and as he put it familiarly to himself, he knew what was in the kitty.
    “No, a surveyor is enough,” he said. “What they call a
geometra
here. A
geometra
will know far more about the practical side of things than an architect. We employ a
geometra
who is quite outstanding. There was a case like yours only a couple of months ago. Their
geometra
kept on taking measurements and asking for more money. No building work was done. In despair they turned to us. We sent our
geometra
in. As simple as that. If you went to visit those people now you would find them happy and smiling in a tastefully refurbished dwelling.”
    “What exactly would you do for us?” Mr. Green asked.
    “Engage a good and experienced builder. Get him to cost everything and make a proper estimate. Oversee the work, make sure things were done properly and that your wishes were made known to the builder—we speak good Italian.” This at least was true. Blemish had understood very early the advantage of knowing more Italian than his clients. He had embarked on an intensive course while still under investigation at the Lambeth Public Works Department. “In short,” he said, “we would carry the project through to its conclusion.”
    “And your charges?”
    “Forty thousand lire an hour, plus expenses—things like phone calls and petrol.”
    “Let’s see now,” Mr. Green said. “That is about twenty-four dollars, isn’t it? Well, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. How soon could your builder be ready to start if we decided to go ahead?”
    “We are rather busy just at present.” It didn’t do to seem too eager, Blemish knew. In his way he was a student of business dealings. And when you come right down to it, he was fond of saying, what other dealings are there? The key to the whole thing was to let the others make the running. The Greens must be made to feel that he was doing them a favor, saving them from disaster. “The builders we work with and trust are all committed at this moment in time,” he said. “There is no way I would engage a builder I knew nothing about. We work to a very high standard of service.”
    “Well, we want to get things moving.” Mr. Green glanced around the room. “Things aren’t too comfortable here at present.”
    Blemish rose. “You will need to think it over,” he said. “It never does to take decisions too hastily.
Patti chiari, amicizia lunga
, as theItalians say—clear agreements, long friendship. You have the phone number. Remember,” he called up as he inserted himself into the car, “
siamo sempre qua
, we are always here.”
    Standing side by side at the top of the steps, the Greens watched him drive away. In the silence following the car’s departure they heard the faint drone of a lawn mower somewhere high up behind them. They remained there for some time looking at the curving line of the road and the steeply rising terraces beyond. There were remnants of mist in the air, fluffing the lines of the hills, softening the edges of everything. The fig trees below the house were naked still, their pointed shoots dark silver in the sunshine.
    After some moments of silence the Greens turned and smiled at each other, sure of each other’s feelings, sure that their pleasure in the peace and the beauty of the place was shared. Throughout the forty years of their marriage