Princess by Alison Fraser

mother and child by unknown artist— he had at once recognised both its origin and subject. Normally Adam set himself a limit above which he resisted the temptation to continue bidding; this time, however, he was prepared to bid until he got what he wanted, regardless of price. The bidding started sluggishly, with the auctioneer chiding the crowd for their reluctance to make an offer for what he called a very nice little painting, a description which made Adam cringe. Initially the bidding was between a rather plump woman sitting just in front of Adam, and a voice coming from the back of the large manor hall where the sale was taking place. Adam relaxed, waiting for the moment he thought fit to enter the auction. The price had settled round the five hundred mark when a man on the sidelines overstepped it by one hundred. Adam intuitively recognised him as a dealer. The plump woman who had wanted to take the cute little painting back to her home in Nebraska dropped out, her husband having announced in an over-loud whisper that ‘it wasn’t that cute’. The dealer and the voice from the back continued competing until the bidding rose to over two thousand pounds. The expression on the auctioneer’s face plainly revealed his dismay at having missed out on something by not bringing in a valuer—it had already gone too high for the work of an unknown. Again the bidding stabilised, this time at two and a half thousand pounds, with the dealer’s offer highest. Adam fractionally lifted his ha