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‘I have great confidence in my company’s future, and I saw no reason why a bunch of bloated capitalists based in London should profit from it, when I could just as easily ensure that the ordinary man in the street up here made a few bob instead.’
    â€˜You say “your company”, but now you’ve sold the shares, it isn’t actually your company any more, is it?’ Woodend asked.
    Hough laughed. ‘Don’t you believe it. I still own fifty-four percent of it – and that’s more than enough to continue taking it in the direction in which I think it
should
go.’
    â€˜An’ you have a very clear idea of what that direction should be, don’t you?’ Woodend asked.
    â€˜Oh yes, indeed,’ Hough said.
    Yes, you certainly look like a man who knows his own mind, Woodend thought.
    â€˜Let’s get back to this meetin’ you were supposed to have with Terry Pugh last night,’ he suggested.
    â€˜Ah yes. I went to school with Terry, you know.’
    â€˜His wife said somethin’ about that.’
    â€˜We were the closest of pals, all the way through Sudbury Street Elementary School.’
    Woodend grinned. ‘I went to Sudbury Street myself, though it must have been some considerable time before you did.’
    â€˜Probably so. But I don’t suppose it had changed much over the years. Anyway, Terry and I fell out of touch. I expect that was mostly my fault. After I lost the use of my legs …’ he paused for a moment, ‘… and in case you’d wondering, it was as the result of a motor accident.’
    â€˜I wasn’t wondering,’ Woodend told him.
    â€˜Neither was I,’ Paniatowski chipped in.
    Hough grinned again. ‘You’re a pair of liars!’ he said, without rancour. ‘But to get back to the point – after I was crippled, I didn’t want to see anybody very much. For about two years, I just sat around the house feeling very sorry for myself. I’d been a fair-to-middling athlete in my youth, you see, and losing the use my legs seemed to take all meaning out of life.’
    â€˜That was understandable,’ Woodend said.
    â€˜No, it wasn’t,’ Hough disagreed. ‘There’s never any excuse for giving in. And one morning I woke up and discovered – almost to my own surprise – that I was determined to make a new start. I can’t tell you why it should have been that particular morning – or even why it should have happened at all. It simply did. I had a little capital just sitting in the bank – a legacy from an uncle of mine – and I decided to draw it all out and buy myself an engineering company which was teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.’
    â€˜Are you an engineer by training?’
    â€˜No, which makes the whole idea seem crazy, doesn’t it? But though I knew I couldn’t make things myself, I thought I could ensure that they were made properly. And once they
were
made, I was convinced I could sell them.’ He took another sip of his whisky. ‘I’m rabbiting on a bit, aren’t I? You don’t want to hear my life story. You’re here to find out about Terry Pugh.’
    â€˜True,’ Woodend agreed. ‘Not that I haven’t enjoyed listenin’ to your story, anyway.’
    â€˜Yes, I’m something of an inspiration, aren’t I?’ Mark Hough said, though the self-deprecation in his tone neutralized any element of arrogance the statement might have contained. ‘At any rate, I ran into Terry in the centre of town, a few weeks ago. I must admit that my first feeling was one of guilt, for having ignored him so long, but he seemed to bear me no ill will, so I soon got over that. We had a chat about old times – as you do – then we filled each other in on what we’d been doing since we last met.’
    â€˜More him filling you in than you filling him in,’ Woodend