Read J. Page 19

The unite, as it is properly called, replaced the sovereign and took its name from the union of

  England and Scotland in 1603. It was replaced in 1663 by the guinea and was worth around 20

  shillings. It was used alongside the angel, first minted in 1465.

  There was a sudden squawk and a shrill cry of "Iestyn! IEST-YN!!" He pounded downstairs. His sopping swimming trunks wrapped in a soaking towel were dripping chlorinated water on the lino. His mother fumed on the carpet.

  As the bedroom door swung towards her, Veda noticed the stencilled slogan pinned to the woodwork, words of St Julian of Norwich:

  A L L S H A L L B E W E L L,

  A N D A L L S H A L L B E W E L L

  A N D A L L M A N N E R

  O F T H I N G

  S H A L L B E W E L L

  and beneath that, two postcards, one of Ivanov's painting of Apollo and Hyacinth from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery and the other showing Jacob Jordaen's Bean King, 1638.