On Friday morning, Jimmy and his brother finish the work on the ceilings. Alan walks around the rooms with Jimmy, looking up at the patches in the plaster. In the drawing room, the cat in the fireplace is looking anxious. It has its own bed, and it spends most of its time sleeping in the fireplace, but now it�s lighting a little fire, and looking up into the chimney.

Jimmy and Alan move onto the next room. The fireplace here is empty. When they were working in the house, Jimmy and his brother often heard noises from the walls, but they could never figure out what they were. As Alan compliments Jimmy on the work they did, he hears the noises again, and a few seconds later a cloud of black soot emerges from the fireplace and something moves very quickly from there to the open window and out into the garden � something very quick and very black.

�What the hell was that?� Jimmy says.

�That was just Soots,� Alan says.

�Soots?�

�He�s our dog. He spends most of his time travelling through the chimneys � he�s dug tunnels linking all the chimneys.�

�He�s a dog?�

�Yeah, a red setter. He keeps all the chimneys clean, and he stays away from the furniture now. We have a bottle of red hair dye in the fridge and we threaten to use it on him if he ever gets soot on the furniture.�

�Couldn�t ye just wash him, instead of using red hair dye?�

�It�s not really hair dye. It�s really more of a twig.�

�Oh� So why do ye keep a twig in the fridge?�

�It�s not really a fridge either. It�s really a�� Alan thinks for a few seconds before walking over to the window and looking out. �What do you call that, beyond the garden?�

Jimmy goes over to the window and looks out. �What, the field?�

�A field, yeah. That�s what the fridge is. Look, there�s the red dye over there.� He points to a tree.

�Right. So how would you go about dying the dog�s hair with a twig?�

�It�s really just a threat, and he�s just a dog � he doesn�t know any better. I�m sure he�s never thought it through.�

�Does he ever bother the cat?�

�No. The cat listens out for him, and if she ever thinks he might come down her chimney, she lights a fire and starts boiling her jam on it. We always know Soots is around when she starts boiling her jam.�

�Oh. Okay.�

They go back to the drawing room. �Once again, ye�ve done a great job on the ceilings,� Alan says as he looks through a drawer in a desk. He can�t seem to find what he�s looking for, so he empties the drawer onto the desk, and at last he finds the cheque book. �What was it we agreed on? Two thousand?�

�I�ve been meaning to talk to you about that. Y� see, with inflation and everything, the cost of the job has gone up a bit since we agreed that price.�

�Oh. How much is it now?�

�Ten thousand.�

Alan never really understood financial matters. �And this is inflation, is it?�

�Inflation, yeah. And y� see, I couldn�t help noticing yesterday that when ye were giving that demonstration of the table, that, in actual fact, it wasn�t really the table who was identifying the screws. I couldn�t help noticing that it was actually you. So, the thing is, that I couldn�t help noticing how ye effectively conned that woman out of a hundred grand, and I thought to myself� Well, the cost of the job went up because of inflation, but if ye were to fail to pay the bill I might have to go to that woman and explain to her how ye conned her.�

�Right. I think I see what you mean now. Inflation. So basically, we owe you ten thousand euro now. I suppose this has something to do with the conversion to the euro as well?�

�Oh yeah, absolutely. Inflation and the euro. Obviously I don�t expect ye to pay straight away � I�m sure the cheque for the table hasn�t gone through yet.�

�There�s just one little point about this whole �inflation� thing that I�m not sure of. Does it mean that the sisters would have to find out about how the table really works?�

�Not necessarily, no.�

�I�d hate for them to find out. They�ve been playing with it since they were young girls, and they always believed it was the table who identified the screws. I only did it because they got so much fun out of it.�

�There�s no need whatsoever for them to find out about that.�

�That�s a relief then.�

Jimmy can�t help noticing some photographs on the desk � they were in the drawer. In the photos, a woman in a bikini smiles at the camera. �Who�s she?� Jimmy asks.

Alan looks at the photos and says, �That�s Tessie. Look at that for a pair of knees.�

�Ah, knees. Yeah.�

�We hired her as a nanny to look after Soots � this was back in the days when we were having trouble keeping him off the furniture. We wanted to convince him that he was better off being red, rather than black, and that he�d be better off outdoors. So we hired Tessie to wear a bikini and stay out in the sun and get sunburnt so she�d be red. She�s a beautiful woman and we thought Soots would fall in love with her and want to be red just like her, and stay outdoors with her. We didn�t realise that dogs were colour-blind, so it was never going to work. It would never have worked anyway. She turned brown, and the gardener fell in love with her. So Soots still spends most of his time in the chimneys, but we have the threat of the red hair dye to keep him off the furniture now. He still visits his nanny sometimes. She�s living with the gardener.�

�And does she still wear the bikini all the time.�

�Yeah, that�s part of her job. She is still officially Soots� Nanny.

That night, as the sisters and Alan get ready for bed (they all sleep in one room rather than keeping eight bedrooms in repair, and it�s a huge room) Alan tells them that the bill for the repairs has gone up. �Because of inflation, he wants ten thousand now.�

�But we don�t have ten thousand,� Ellen says. �We have a hundred thousand.�

�Would he accept a hundred thousand instead of ten?� Hilda says.

�I doubt it,� Alan says. �He seemed fairly insistent on getting the ten thousand.�

�So where are we going to get ten grand?�

�Let's sleep on it. Maybe we'll get an idea in the morning.�

They all say goodnight to each other � Abigail, Annabel, Cicely, Ellen, June, Hilda and Hilda. Hilda isn�t her real name. Her real name is a beige name � it�s there at the back of her mind, covered by a light cloud and she can never remember it. �Hilda� is a red name, and that�s the one she always remembers, even though it�s not hers, but she uses it anyway. To distinguish her from her sister, you have to say her name in a deep red sort of way: Hilda.

In the morning, Alan has the same idea he had last night, but he didn�t want to mention it then because they�d be talking about it all night. He says to them, �I think we should visit ye�r uncle Hugh. He might give us the money.�

�I don�t know,� Ellen says. �You know what it�s like trying to get anything out of him.�

�It�s worth a try anyway.�

�Yeah, Alan is right,� Abigail says. �We should at least try.�

�But it�ll never work.�

�I think we should ask Albert Ink,� Alan says.

�Yeah, Albert will know what to do.�

Albert Ink is really just ink. He lives in a bottle of ink in the desk in the library. When they ask Albert for advice, one of them writes on a piece of paper with Albert Ink. They don�t read the words, but they listen carefully to the sound of the fountain pen on the paper, and they try to hear what Albert is saying in that sound. All of their attention is focussed on the sound, rather than what they see. Of course, the words written on the paper influence them subliminally, so they normally hear what�s written.

Alan asks Albert Ink what he thinks they should do in this situation. He says, �Albert, we need a bit of money fairly quickly. Ten thousand, to be exact. We were wondering if you had any ideas on how to get it.�

Then he dips the pen in Albert Ink and starts writing slowly on the paper: Go to Uncle Hugh.

The sisters listen very carefully to the sound of Albert Ink and then Abigail says, �He said we should go to our uncle.�

�I heard something about trees,� Ellen says.

�Let�s ask him again,� Alan says.

So he writes again and they all listen carefully. This time he writes: I think ye should definitely go to Uncle Hugh.

�Yeah,� Cicely says. �I heard him say we should go to Uncle Hugh too.�

�I definitely heard something about trees,� Ellen says.

They take a vote. Most of them heard something about Uncle Hugh, even June, who�s nearly deaf.

The reason they�re reluctant to visit their uncle is because he�s only interested in cigars. He smokes non-stop, and if you try to talk to him while he�s smoking, he won�t really listen to what you�re saying. And it�s no use waiting for him to stop smoking. He only stops when he goes to sleep and he won�t listen then either.

But they go to see him anyway, in the off-chance that he�ll listen to what they have to say. It�s always worth following Albert Ink�s advice.

They knock at the front door of Hugh's house and the butler takes them inside. Uncle Hugh is normally in his study upstairs or in the gardens, but when they go into the hall they see him sitting on the stairs, and if that wasn�t shocking enough, he�s not smoking. They realise that this is a massive stroke of luck, so they start telling their story straight away, before he gets a chance to light a cigar. But as Alan talks, they all get the impression that Hugh still isn�t listening. He stands up and starts walking down the hall, deep in thought. Alan follows him, still talking, but Hugh interrupts him and says, �There�s been something on my mind for the past few days.�

Alan realises that there�s no point in going on with his story, so he says, �Oh? What�s that?�

�I was walking down this hall on Tuesday, smoking a cigar, and I failed to notice that my shoe laces weren�t tied. I noticed when I tripped over them and fell on the floor. The cigar fell out of my hand, but while I was on the ground, facing down, I saw a message on the wooden floorboard, just there.� He kneels on the floor and points at a spot on the floorboard. �You can only read it if you get down on the ground. It says: �A shipment of bolts and bon-bons�. It�s carved in tiny letters on the wood.�

�A shipment of bolts and bon-bons?�

�Yes.�

�What does it mean?�

�I don�t know, but I know it means something. I can�t help thinking it�s a message I was supposed to pass onto someone, and I wrote it there to remind me, like writing something on the back of your hand, but I haven�t fallen in that spot for 71 years. I was always falling there once, but then I found a better place to fall. And then I took up smoking, so I gave up the falling because the smoking took up most of my time. I can�t help thinking that I was supposed to fall here years ago but I forgot.�

�Right. I wish we could help you there, but as I was saying, we�re having a few problems ourselves with the��

�I even tried to find out when they stopped shipping bolts and bon-bons, but no one could tell me anything.�

They can see that there�s no point in saying any more � he�ll never listen, so they say their goodbyes and leave. As they walk down the driveway they pass the gardener. He�s an old man, and he�s standing next to the lawn, leaning on a spade. He seems to be deep in thought as well. Hilda says to him, �It�s a nice day.�

�Hm? Oh. Yes. What?�

�It�s a nice day.�

�Oh. Yes. You didn�t say anything about a sink there, did you?�

�No.�

�Oh. Right. It�s just that I thought you said something about a sink� You�re sure you didn�t say anything about a sink?�

�Yes. I�m sure.�

�Right. It would be a huge help if you did. Anything at all?�

�Sorry. I don�t think I have anything to say about a sink,� Hilda says, and then turns to her sisters. �Does anyone else have anything to say about a sink?�

The sisters try to think of something to say about a sink, but they can�t think of anything. Alan asks the gardener if something is wrong, something to do with a sink, and he says, �I am having a bit of a problem with a sink alright. Well, slightly more than a bit of a problem. My whole life has been devoted to solving this problem and I�m starting to wonder if I�ll ever get to the bottom of it.�

�What�s wrong?�

�It all started when I was just a young man. My father was the gardener here before me, and I took over when he retired. They had a retirement party for him in the house, but at the end of the evening, Mr. Hugh presented him with a sink.�

�A sink?�

�With a sink.�

�Why?�

There�s a long and bitter laugh from the gardener. �That�s the problem. Why the sink? My father spent the rest of his life trying to figure out why he was presented with a sink on his retirement, and I carried on that search over the past fifty years.�

�Have ye tried asking our uncle?� Hilda says, but she knew the answer to that before she finished asking the question, long before the end of another bitter laugh.

�At first my father thought it would be rude to ask Mr. Hugh,� the gardener says. �but he got so desperate that he did ask him one day. He got an answer about cigars. He tried everything after that. I�ve tried everything too. Come with me and I�ll show ye.�

They follow him to his shed. He opens the door, and inside the walls are covered with shelves full of books and plans. There�s a desk in the centre of the room, and on it are the blue prints for a design of some machine.

�I�ve spent years reading books and making these blueprints, but I�ve never managed to figure out why ye�r uncle gave my father a sink for his retirement.�

�What are the blueprints for?�

�They�re blueprints.�

�They�re plans for something, are they?�

�That�s what they are, yeah. They�re plans.�

�Something to do with the sink?�

�Exactly. Something to do with the sink. Something to do with the search for why ye�r uncle gave my father a sink for his retirement. It�s all a bit of a mystery.�

�Well, we�d love to be able to help you,� Alan says, �but it�s a bit of a mystery to us too. If we think of anything, we�ll let you know.�

�Do. Please do.�

They leave the gardener and return home.