Summer's Lease [antikvár]

CHAPTER ONEThe woman walked round the corner of the house and saw a snake consuming a large Tuscan toad.The victim was motionless, looking about it only slightly puzzled, blinking, whilst the snake attacked its leg. The toad had the appearance of a fat businessman being done some sexual service by a hard-faced girl on the make and doing his best not to notice. The snake, with its sleek, shiny head and curled body, was long and smartly patterned in grey and black.The woman, wishing to put an end to this outrage and feeling involved on the side of the toad, picked up a stick. But as she straightened, armed, the nervous snake abandoned its prey and slithered away into the shadows under a fig tree. There it was lost among the wild flowers and in the spring grass. The toad sat on, unafraid, bleeding slightly and blinking into the sun. The woman dropped her stick and'stood looking at it, bewildered.'Mrs Pargeter.' A man came up behind her and she turned towards him. He was dressed in a blue blazer and white trousers as though for some pre-war cruise. The sunlight behind him penetrated the thinness of his ginger hair and polished his scalp. 'Is there anything more I can show you?''No, thanks. Nothing more.'She looked back towards the fig tree and saw that the toadII