‘What is all this about, Mrs Palmer-Jones?’ he asked. He was thinking of the trip to the Highlands to advise his new client on peat extraction, thinking that the journey would be much more pleasant if he had company.

Molly expressed embarrassment, made it clear that she was intimidated by the splendour of the office. Really, she said, perhaps she shouldn’t have disturbed him. Of course it wasn’t of any importance. But as she was in Appleworth anyway…

Simon waited for her to come to the point, his mind still on other things.

‘It’s about Joanna,’ Molly said. ‘ Well, I suppose it’s about you and Joanna really.’

‘What about Joanna?’ he said, as one might ask about a difficult child.

‘It’s your wedding anniversary soon, isn’t it?’ Molly said. ‘I know Ursula always used to remember it. She was so fond of Joanna and I’d like to give her something too. Nothing special, of course. Just a card or a small gift. To keep the tradition.’

If he was surprised that she could think of such things so soon after her aunt’s death he did not show it. Perhaps, he thought, there were old ladies for whom a forgotten birthday or anniversary was a crime.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Our anniversary’s next week. It’s very kind of you to think of us.’

‘And how many years is it now?’ she said, gossipy, tactless.

‘Thirteen,’ he said. ‘We’ll have been married thirteen years on Wednesday.’

Cassie Liddle is fifteen, Molly thought. She had such a hazy recollection of that time that she’d had to check.

‘And had you known each other long when you married?’ she asked, hoping that he saw her as a romantic old fool. ‘I seem to remember it was something of a whirlwind engagement.’

‘Not long,’ he said. ‘Less than a year.’

‘Well,’ she said. ‘I always say if you know your own mind that doesn’t matter.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Perhaps not.’

‘You won’t mention this to Joanna, will you?’ she said. ‘I’d like the present to be a surprise.’

‘Whatever you say,’ he said, obviously bored.

She stood up, gathering the plastic carrier bag of groceries she had brought to make the story that she was in Appleworth for shopping more plausible. At the door she stopped.

‘This must be a difficult time for you,’ she said. ‘You’re so closely linked to Marcus Grenville that all the adverse publicity must be bad for business.’

‘Felicity will probably have gone by now,’ he said. ‘You won’t mind seeing yourself out.’

Molly was untroubled by his rudeness. He had given her the information she needed.