‘Just leave it to me. Hugo upstairs? I’ll start with him.’ Alice gave Clancy a quick hug, though Clancy stood unresponsive, then she ran upstairs.

Clancy hovered. She’d tugged on cropped jeans and an old T-shirt, ready to set to as soon as the first guest drove away, but now she wasn’t sure she should leave.

After fifteen minutes, during which she heard raised voices but not what was said, Clancy’s patience was rewarded by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Hugo came down first, carting along a well-stuffed holdall and treating Clancy to a filthy look as he passed.

Alice was on his heels. ‘Hugo needs to make a phone call,’ she said to Clancy, still in the solemn tone she’d used when she arrived.

Clancy nodded. By the way they both stood gazing at her, privacy was required. ‘OK, I’ll begin changeover day.’ With a last look at Alice, who was looking unusually serious, Clancy made for the door.

‘I’ll come and find you soon,’ Alice called after her.

Clancy slipped off to number four, clutching her cleaning materials and cloths, flung open windows and began stripping beds. She was shaking duvets into clean covers when she glanced out of the window and halted. Down in the lane, Hugo could be seen ferrying a substantial segment of what had gone to make up Possession Mountain into a heap by the front gate.

Fumbling her way through making up the beds, Clancy was unable to take her eyes off the scene unfolding outside as a taxi appeared. Alice, arms folded, looked on as Hugo heaved his bags into it. Then the taxi turned in the lane and drove away.

Alice turned as if to make for the cottages, pausing to have a word with Dilys and Ernie, who had appeared like pop-up dolls. The three conferred, Ernie gesticulating, Dilys with hands on hips, Alice nodding apologetically. Finally, she must have persuaded them back indoors as she set off again towards the holiday homes.

Realising that Alice wouldn’t know which cottage she was in, Clancy ran down and opened the door of number four.

Alice dimpled when she saw her, stepping over the threshold and closing the door behind her. ‘I think I’ve got rid of him but it would be sensible to change the locks.’ Her eyes were hopeful.

Clancy folded her arms. ‘How? What have you done?’

‘Hugo’s mum is an MP,’ Alice said casually, though her eyes sparkled. ‘Her seat’s tenuous at the moment and she can’t afford for any hint of scandal like, say—’ she puffed out her cheeks in an elaborate show of thinking hard ‘—a son hitting the skids financially, and it coming out that she’d withdrawn financial support. So she promised to bring Hugo to heel by supporting him again if he left the Roundhouse. And I promised not to get any journalists I happen to know to investigate Hugo to see what skeletons he’s left in cupboards as he travelled the world.’