I was considering putting our prices up by ten per cent in the New Year. We'll still be competitive." Good idea. We ought to think about putting the g...rls' wages up by the same amount. There would still be added income from the profit margin which we ought to start to think about investing. Would you mind if I talked to Frank Edwards about it?" Not at all but do include Nell, won't you?" Of course. We went through the mortgage figures together. In fact it was she who said, 'We've started. Beatrice was as much her captor as she was still her lover and confidante. Colonel Vashti was fully occupied with the care and custody of the Holy Coalition crusaders and, in any case, the colonel had never been a frequent visitor to Nadezhda's quarters.Nevertheless, now was surely the time for Nadezhda to become reacquainted with her former lover. The captain couldn't, of course, just stroll into the military quarters and find out whether she was in her room. It would attract far too much. Then, as violet light touched the stone behind the woman, it became apparent it was not a stone at all but the entrance to a huge cave. Now came the time of questions. Was this man someone she could trust to follow her inside the cave. ‘I have a task,’ she began. ‘When I started this journey, I did not know what it would be, only I must follow the trail. When you joined me along the way, I was not sure if you were part of this task or following your own song. Now, I feel you have been sent. When they entered the main room they had no idea what to expect.Somewhere in the back of Mark's mind he was expecting the guests to leap on Anna en masse; thus it was a surprise to find nothing happening. The last thing either expected was for the party to continue as though nothing was out of the ordinary; Mark did notice the looks of lust his beautiful dignified wife got from all quarters, but no-one seemed in a hurry to do more than look at her.Across the room Mark saw Wellswood leaning.