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computers, did you?’
    ‘I’m afraid that kind of technology is far beyond my reckoning,’ Talbot assured him with a smile. ‘Your equipment is awaiting your attention in the music room.’
    This statement made Wade stop and think. He hadn’t mentioned his intention of making the music room his office. ‘I am really beginning to think you are telepathic, Talbot.’
    The butler shied from the suggestion. ‘Just very good at my job, Sir.’
     
    Wade stopped in at Hugh’s room to conscript him into his little adventure, discovering another drawing room on the way there.
    Hugh was propped up in bed with his breakfast and the papers when Wade came striding in.
    ‘Get up, I want to show you something,’ Wade demanded, eager to keep moving.
    Hugh threw his head back and gave a hearty laugh. ‘Not for a million dollars,’ he stated bluntly, and went back to his paper.
    ‘You’re no fun anymore.’ Wade resorted to the tactic that usually won him his way.
    As Hugh had just about polished off breakfast, he allowed himself to be persuaded. ‘Oh, verywell. I do pride myself on being fun,’ he said with some sarcasm, but raised himself all the same.
    Once Wade had rushed Hugh through dressing, to no great effect, they headed down the staircase, through the Great Hall and out the front door.
    ‘Speaking of strange dreams, I must say that fountain featured heavily in mine,’ Hugh confessed, as they descended the stairs towards it.
    ‘Half your luck.’ Wade veered to the left. ‘All I got was this great, huge cat! At least, I think it was a cat. As large as a medium-sized mutt it was, with these weird lookin’ ears that kind of folded over.’
    ‘That’s interesting,’ mused Hugh. ‘The cat is said to represent your intuitive or psychic aspect.’
    ‘Yeah? Well, my psychic aspect doesn’t like me very much. It took a swing at me.’ Wade’s eyes parted wide as he recalled the vision. ‘All puffed up, it was … like someone had shoved its tail in an electric socket.’
    ‘Why did it attack you?’
    ‘Oh no!’ Wade groaned, as they cleared the house and he spied a gazebo where the wondrous dwelling had been in his dream. ‘This wasn’t here … it was an octagonal temple thing, that housed a large circular room.’
    ‘Was the room furnished?’
    ‘I don’t know, I never got to see the inside. Thecat was blocking the entrance.’ Wade strode towards the small gazebo that, although beautiful, was no comparison to the structure he’d imagined.
    ‘Look here.’ Hugh was standing before the gazebo’s central pillar, staring at a plaque that was inset in it. ‘Erected in loving memory of my grandfather, John, the sixth Baron Ashby, who perished in the Temple fire of 1779. His passion for art and thirst for knowledge were equalled only by his devotion to those he loved. John is sorely missed.’
    ‘A chapter house of the occult, some would have you believe, my Baron.’
    Wade spun around to find Dougal, the gardener.
    ‘The sixth Baron referred to it as his temple of knowledge. His private library was beneath the chapter house, you see, and that’s where the fire started. Once it got hold of the books, well … poof! It is said the Baron died attempting to save the books.’ Dougal concluded the yarn, which he’d no doubt perfected for the summer tourists.
    ‘That’s all very interesting, Dougal, but tell me … is there a painting of the temple anywhere?’
    Dougal had to think a moment, as he never had much cause to roam inside the manor. ‘I do believe there is one in the long gallery, my Baron.’
    ‘Oh.’ Wade was none the wiser. ‘Well, thanks for the history lesson, Dougal.’
    ‘Anytime, my Lord.’ The old fellow went back to his gardens.
    ‘Well, how about that.’ Hugh was gazing back at the house, where a long open walkway on ground level supported an enclosed structure above. ‘I’ll bet that’s the long gallery up there,’ Hugh advised Wade. ‘In which case, we’ll find it