Read Online The Restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer - Free Book Online Page A

great for the West End. I’ve heard a rumour that you live somewhere in the far south, is that right?’
    â€˜It’s not so far, but it is south of the river. I have a room in Lambeth.’
    â€˜And what drew you down there?’
    â€˜At first, there was a mixing-up with the accommodation. This was a few years ago, when I first came to study here. The forms I filled out for the college were lost, and so I had to find somewhere quickly. And then, once I was there, I grew to like it. The atmosphere is different. They are maybe more like human beings down there.’
    They both laughed.
    â€˜You will have to excuse me. My English is still not always so good. I express myself a little oddly on occasion.’
    â€˜It’s okay. I understand what you mean. And I think there is probably more truth to your words than you intended. Bloomsbury can feel a little artificial sometimes, although it’s a shame that you’re so cut off from everyone. You’re missing out on a lot – there’s quite a vibrant community up here. You should think about leaving the human beings and coming up to live with the Bloomsbury Set. We don’t want you sitting down there all alone, brooding away in your attic like some mad genius. You’re clearly well ahead on your reading – well ahead of some of the lecturers, from what I’ve heard. Come north and broaden your scope.’
    â€˜My scope?’
    â€˜Your outlook – your potential.’
    â€˜You think I have potential?’
    Cynthia gave him a look, then, holding his eyes with confidence as she drew on her cigarette, the smoke wreathing sensuously around her face.
    â€˜I think you have lots of potential, Otto.’
    She paused and stubbed out her cigarette into the ashtray. Her restless hands detached the silver bracelet and spun it between her fingers …
    *   *   *
    Otto’s throat began to tighten at the memory. He was becoming emotional. Tears were squeezing their way out of the corners of his eyes.
    Steady, you old fool. Calm yourself. Start blubbing now and the game is up. They’ll lock you away for ever.
    With a considerable effort, he forced his attention away from the bracelet – how many times he had seen that, in so many places, but don’t give in to it, not here – and back to the conversation taking place around him. He was relieved when the food arrived shortly afterwards, and they moved on to the business in hand.
    Otto voiced some of the concerns he had previously mentioned to Angelo, but this time only in the most cursory of ways. All pride and suspicion seemed to have drained from him as if the evening’s events had sapped his will. He had seen enough to convince him that these young people had sufficient integrity to do their job properly. He should leave them alone to get on with it. Besides, in a sense he felt that he had no choice but to go along with whatever came his way. The bizarre coincidence that he had just come to terms with over dinner seemed to have effectively ruled out any alternative. There was no backing away now, even if he wanted to.
    Fate was one of those words Otto detested – a hangover from the superstitious past. When it came to explaining baffling occurrences, he preferred to think in terms of autonomous bodies, circulating through space-time, and sometimes forming chance events that to the irrational mind might seem to have been preordained. To him, it was a simple question of physics. Nevertheless, he was forced to admit that this particular chance event had affected him strangely. He felt that something was under way over which he had little control.
    â€˜Do you have an itinerary for the filming?’ he asked Chloe, for the sake of finding something to discuss.
    â€˜Yes,’ she said, ‘it’s pretty straightforward. We’ll start with three full days, but after that things should be easier for you. Just the afternoon,