Downstairs the smell of meat roasting in the ovens permeated the ground floor, while the cook could be heard chopping vegetables in the kitchen. The waiter was laying tables with fresh linen and cutlery from the big corner cupboard, attractive in his white shirt and tight black jeans.
From the little office where I was preparing bills for guests who were leaving that afternoon I heard Andrew and Tom talking in the hall, and stepped out to see an other-worldly looking Andrew, his white hair glowing in bright light from the open door behind him. In his arms he held an enormous flowering plant in a brass container; peering through the foliage he said, 'I was thinking of putting this on the hall table. Have you a cloth or a mat of some sort to put under it?'
A couple of transparent plastic file wallets from the office were the nearest things to hand. 'It's a beautiful plant. What is it?'
'A phalaenopsis, a type of orchid.' Above the vigorous green plume of leaves rose seven or eight flower stems, each displaying more than half a dozen butterfly-like blooms, the outer parts of the flowers paper white, the middles patterned with rich purple spots deepening towards the centre. 'I hope it won't be in the way,' he said modestly.
'It's wonderful.'
Tom straightened one of the leaves which had become creased up against the wall. 'Perhaps I should rig up a little shelf or bracket for it somewhere.'
'Are you lending it to me?'
'If it won't be in your way. The blooms will last a few weeks with any luck, I'll take it back to the nursery once they fade.' He rocked the container from side to side to test its stability, then pinned the leaf Tom had straightened out to the notice board with a drawing pin. 'I expect it will be all right like that while we eat.'
The dining room was filling up and we went in and sat at our table. When the first course arrived, as expected Andrew commented on Darren's absence: 'Darren not joining us today?'
'No sign of him yet. He went to a club last night.'
'He's not working today, is he?'
'No. He went out with the people staying on the second floor.'
I got up to show some guests to their table, hoping he would forget the subject for a while, but as soon as I sat down again he asked, 'The people Darren was with, are they back yet?'
'Yes, they had breakfast first thing and went up to their rooms to sleep.'