‘Ah, but you see, the reason I have acquired Nelly is for a penance. She is going to encourage me not to accept stereotypes. When I first saw her I thought she was the ugliest and fiercest-looking dog I had ever seen. How would anyone on God’s earth want to own a dog like that?’

‘And?’ Philippe and Jean-Christophe exchanged a grin. ‘Why would they?’

‘Nelly,’ Meredith commanded, admittedly in a tone that would be recognized by conscripts everywhere as much as recalcitrant animals, ‘drop the bone and come here!’

Nelly obeyed and trotted over. ‘Paw for Philippe, Nelly.’

Nelly dutifully raised her paw, her sad and jowly features by some miracle suddenly rearranging themselves into an expression that was more human than animal.

‘Mon Dieu, c’est marrant!’ Philippe laughed. ‘It’s so funny! A dog that smiles! Where did you get her?’

‘She belonged to an old lady who has gone into hospital and can’t look after her any more.’

Philippe looked stunned. ‘I am impressed.’

‘As I am with you,’ replied Meredith. ‘That’s why I came. To apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion about you.’

‘That I like to stay up drinking all night with the lads?’

‘Précisément,’ Meredith conceded in her perfect French.

‘And I thought you were a cold-hearted Anglo-Saxon who was only interested in money,’ Philippe smiled.

‘Just as I jumped to the wrong conclusion about Nelly. I decided she was the ugliest, fiercest dog I had ever seen – and look at her now!’

Nelly had clearly decided that Philippe was a friend and had gone to sleep on his feet, an expression of blissful contentment on her unprepossessing features.

‘Perhaps we should start our acquaintance again?’ he suggested with a smile. ‘Philippe Latignac – je suis enchanté de faire votre connaissance.’ His formal bow wouldn’t have shamed the duke of St Savarin.

Meredith held out her hand, dimly remembering that at Meads they had been taught that to reply ‘Pleased to meet you’ was somehow non-U and the correct reply was ‘How do you do?’ But to Meredith’s ears that sounded like Eliza Doolittle trying to speak posh. Anyway, the French rules were probably different, and who gave a damn anyway?

‘Meredith Harding,’ she replied with equal ceremony. ‘Delighted to make your acquaintance.’

She glanced round to see what Jean-Christophe made of this exchange, only to discover that he had tactfully taken himself off to lay the tables and leave them alone. She really liked that boy.

‘One thing puzzles me,’ Philippe added as he let go of her hand. ‘What will you do with the dog when you leave? Have her shipped to the East by freight, or find some owner here?’

Meredith smiled slowly. ‘I’m not going back to the East. I’m determined to buy the Château de St Savarin and with my friend Joanna we’re going to turn it into France’s most romantic wedding venue!’