She’d fallen in love with it. It was of a large patch of white willowherb, and the seeds had turned into silken fluff. Every so often a puff of wind would blow the seeds high up into the air, sending them up and around, catching the light as they flew. But it was probably completely off track.

Molly had been very sniffy about her having a video at all. ‘But who will buy them?’ she had asked, sensibly enough, when Thea had got a copy and shown her.

‘No one will buy them. But the artists might be asked to do an MA somewhere, or win a prize. This gallery isn’t only about making money, you know.’

‘As if,’ said Molly, sounding very like Petal.

The two young men were charming. They admired the original features in the house, didn’t look sniffily about at the traces of student, which were everywhere, and fell in love with Lara and the puppies. They exchanged meaningful looks. ‘I know it’s mad, but maybe, perhaps, one of these might be what we need to fill the gap Lorenzo left. He was a Great Dane.’

The other said, ‘It’s a bit soon to be thinking about getting attached to another animal, but you never know.’

‘Well,’ said Thea. ‘If you and the puppies get on OK, and you think you might like one –’ She left her sentence unfinished. ‘It’s not going to be easy to find homes for mongrels that size. The little one I shall keep myself.’

‘We’ve never had a mongrel before. We used to breed Great Danes and show them, but they die so young they break your heart.’

Thea glanced at the kitchen clock. ‘Is there anything else you need to know about anything? The washing machine works fine as long as it doesn’t get coins in it. There should be loads of hot water and the telly works OK, only it doesn’t get Channel 5.’

‘Don’t worry about Channel 5, dear. We prefer Calvin Klein anyway.’

After a moment Thea laughed. ‘And you’ve got Molly’s number if anything domestic goes wrong.’

‘Molly? Oh, yes, charming lady. She came to our house and interviewed us. Though I don’t think she really appreciated dogs like we do. So stylish, though.’

Thea left them lying on the kitchen floor bonding with the puppies, happy that her charges were in such good hands, and delighted at the thought of Molly as a gay icon.