We have unleashed a monster, as Mercia puts it and she’s not just talking about Annabel.

Cato has been in his element, hiring sound systems and lighting for the fashion show part of the evening, setting up phone lines, internet connections, renting marquees, measuring rostrums. He talks about hammer prices and valuation contracts, and then, at a meeting we had yesterday at Dinah’s, he slipped in the astonishing fact that the buyers’ premium of 20 per cent on commission bids comes to a decent five-figure sum on the Christian Dior alone.

Who’d have thought?

Once we’d grasped the enormity of it, Dinah and Moss decided that this should, after expenses, be split between them, me, Cato and Fern. We argued of course, but they took offence at our protestations. They said we were family to them now. And so we are.

Betty brings the tea through and I move my feet off the elephant stool so that she can put the tray on it.

‘I bet Enid would know how to strut,’ she says.

I realise that the whole day has gone by without me thinking of Enid once, and I’m happy to be reminded of her. ‘Would she?’

It makes me smile. I like the thought of Enid strutting.

It’s quite extraordinary. I didn’t think my life would turn out like this.

When she died, I could only see the part of my life that was over. I didn’t realise then that it was the beginning of something different, and new.

Cato Hamilton Auctioneers & Fern Banks Vintage Auction Catalogue

Outside in Camden Lock West Yard, it’s getting dark. The brightest stars are gleaming. The Christian Dior outfit, star of the show, is featured on the screen.

I go back into the marquee. It’s buzzing. I’m buzzing. The models are wearing the outfits that they’re donating to the auction, the clothes that mean something to them, the garments that made a difference to the way they saw themselves.

My mother waggles her fingers at me. She’s chosen the cashmere dress that’s split to the knee. She’s got a tremendous amount of energy and she’s in her element, and as a result, my father is besotted with her once more.

I’ve taken Lucy’s advice to throw her some achievement from time to time, like the fact that Holly Willoughby’s in my client book, but this event has gone a long way to smoothing things over with Ruth Bennett, thus saving her from feeling a failure on my behalf.

Dinah is wearing the black-and-white cotton tweed suit that she had on the second time we met. ‘Dahlink, how do I look?’ she demands, winding down her red lipstick.

‘Stunning,’ I tell her.

‘I’m nervous,’ Kim says, wearing his first frock with the feather trim.