They spent each summer recess on the coast, close to where they had been born, where they were known. He thought about the summer house, he felt anxious and uncomfortable. He knew that he had been brought there as a baby during the first summer after his mother died. He had spent each subsequent summer there as a child with his father. He thought about it now in the minutes before the court sitting. All that had happened. It made him uneasy.

There was a hush when he came into the court-room and sat down on the bench. He put his papers in order. The court was full, and it was clear from the number of barristers in the front rows that there was a queue for injunctions and early hearings. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and a buzzing sound came into his ears. He closed his eyes until it passed, holding the pages of the typescript between his finger and thumb. The heating in the court had been turned up too high, already the atmosphere was stuffy. He looked around the court, waiting for everyone to settle. There were too many people standing at the back, some of them were blocking the door. He instructed the clerk to tell them to come forward.

One barrister in the front row was already on his feet.

"My lord, " he said, "I wish to ask this court to dispose of a matter which is of the utmost urgency..."

"Is it of such urgency that it cannot wait?" he asked him. There was a snort of laughter from the barristers at the front.

"Yes, my lord."

He listened for a while, to the complex story of a company being wound up and its assets distributed. After a while he interrupted to ask if the man would be satisfied with an injunction freezing the assets until the court reconvened after the holidays. He then noticed a barrister from the other side seeking his attention.

"There's no need for you to address the court, you can spare your client much expense if you tell me that you will agree to having the assets frozen."

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