Several posh fountains lined the side of the roadway as Mathew drove up the curving path. While they had wonderful statue figures carved or cast, they were unimportant details, save for the water which flowed through them.  As the Manor came up, the driveway curved around a large water-feature which was most certainly man-made as the water from the fountain cycled into this pool to be recycled. It was clear that the fountains were not on the same water system as the house if one knew the inner workings of the pond.

Greeting Mathew at the doorway would be the large and imposing majordomo, who also did well to deal with the old master given his memory. A good thing to note was that the man carried a gun, visibly armed and well muscled. He was also not English, but an import from across the pond. This was a thrall of Bedivere, who kept tabs on the Collector, thrice bitten and blindly loyal to his true master. Not quite a vampire yet, though he longed to be, he had yet to earn his fangs as he had yet to find an adequate replacement for a new collector now that the current is less than fully operational.

"The household, Master Stone, greets you." A thick southwestern US accent. "I trust you won't need to be searched for weapons, but if I ask are you willing to oblige?" The heavy hand over his own gun suggested a barely veiled threat. "Now then the Master will be waiting for you, if you'd follow me."

As the guard guided Mathew through the atrium and halls filled with various paintings and objet d'art alongside fresh flowers in exquisite vases, the house help could be noticed, stealing peeks at the visitor. The two eventually made it into the drawing room, where they would find the old man sitting and enjoying tea with the morning papers. He had already read them earlier, but had forgotten about it since. There was, also another figure, clad in black as pale as the moon sitting at the table. The figure's red eyes glared across Mathew stone, as the vampirism was quite clear was this the real collector?

"Master and associate, I present to you Master Stone."

"Ah good then, Mister Stone, please take a seat and join us. Do not mind my business partner, and yes as you can tell he is a vampire, not that it matters much here in the UK, he is ex-Solider he tells me. I just read today there was an attack on them in the States."

An empty cup designated where they expected Mathew to sit. Next to the old man, but on the other side of the silent vampire. It was thought out to a detail as Mathew would be unable to face the vampire if he intended to talk business with the old man directly. 

"Come now, let me pour you a cup proper, Mister... Stone was it? What was it now that I had you visit for? Ah right business. Well?"

A cup of earl grey tea was poured for Mathew, although it was time for him to decide which of these two men was the one to talk to. But either way he would lose. For Bedivere had no intention of revealing himself to the man until the sun had set. The pendulum of the grandfather clock swung back and forth, deflecting the morning sunlight coming from the windows.