Since discovering a copy of Sir Christopher’s will back in September, he had been slightly less anxious about his imagined rivalry with Peter Mason. He had been relieved to read that Peter Mason was left just one (not very important) picture and the sum of £75,000 in Sir Christopher’s will, though he was severely distressed to find that Peter had been appointed to the much-coveted position of literary executor. All the rest, not just works of art, but his entire personalty, was bequeathed to the Ashmolean.
John tried repeatedly to overconvince himself that the fact that an institution should take precedence over an individual was proof positive of the relatively unimportant place that Peter Mason occupied in Sir Christopher’s affections, but, ever since Peter had whisked Sir Christopher o
