‘Duchess gone already, has she?’ he enquired calmly when she handed it over. ‘Well, she hasn’t got far to go. That funny new Lego house at the end of your drive, Jackie says. Strange people, the French, I’ve seen it time and time again. The English come here and buy the old wrecks and the French, even the snooty ones like the duchess, can’t wait to move into the new builds with all mod cons. I suppose they’ve had it up to here with the upkeep, and they are getting on a bit and, of course, the old duke isn’t too well. She’s got a carer moving in, Jack says. Can’t say I blame her, but poor old duke. Not sure he’ll like that. As long as she doesn’t take away his daily bottle of Bordeaux. He always says that’s what keeps him going.’

Meredith might have smiled at the sound of the friendly relationship between Steve and the duke of St Savarin, if she hadn’t been so stunned by his other revelation: Margot hadn’t moved into an elegant apartment in Paris, but a funny little prefab house at the end of their drive, where she could keep a beady eye on everything that came and went at the château. And there wasn’t a thing Meredith could do about it.

She looked down to find Nelly grinning up at her appealingly with an expression that said ‘That’s all very well, but where’s my breakfast?’

Meredith bent down and fondled the dog’s ears. ‘And the worst thing is,’ she confided to Nelly through gritted teeth. ‘I bet that wretched Jackie woman knew about it all along!’

Jo finished arranging all the clothes Liz had sent in her wardrobe and chest of drawers. Liz seemed to have thoughtfully packed practically everything she possessed! To think only such a short time ago she had been stuck in Basingstoke, dreading hearing about Mark and Amanda’s wedding – and here she was living in a French château, thinking about how to organize other people’s weddings! No one could say life wasn’t full of surprises.

On the terrace leading down to the vineyard she spotted Nelly trotting merrily along, tail up, enjoying the beautiful morning. It was another of life’s unexpected turns that Meredith, so chic and businesslike, should have succumbed to the dubious charms of a such a disgraceful animal, albeit one with a lot of winning ways. But what was Nelly doing out anyway? She very much doubted Meredith was even awake at this hour. She’d better dress quickly and go investigate, in case Nelly had somehow escaped without anyone knowing.