‘I’ve no idea. I’ve never heard of him. I don’t think he’s a Tiger Tours regular.’ This definitely marked him down in Molly’s book. ‘But I dare say he’ll be all right. They’re very careful who they get. Now come along, I want to get some cream for my eyes.’ She peered at Thea. ‘I expect you could do with some too. It’s no good waiting for the wrinkles to appear to do anything about them, you know.’

Thea, whose idea of duty-free shopping was spraying herself with a lot of free scent, smiled. ‘I think I’ll just cut along to the bookshop and meet you back here.’

Molly had put on her distinctive, stripy Tiger Tour badge as they stood by baggage reclaim at Marseilles airport. Thea began to spot other badges, and they were all attached to women of a certain age and type. Thea began to feel that she was going to be the baby of the party. Even Molly, though over fifty, was younger than most of this crowd. A few men appeared wearing badges, and people began to smile tentatively at each other.

‘You see why I wanted you to come.’ Molly’s stage whisper was guaranteed to reach the back of the stalls. ‘Most of this lot are geriatric. I might have got latched on to by some old dear with incontinence pads who couldn’t keep up.’

Thea hoped that the old dears were all stone deaf. She felt that anyone who had enough gumption to come on a foreign holiday must have something about them. She smiled at a few people to detach herself from Molly’s unkind remark.

‘Right, troops,’ said a tall, dark-haired man in his early fifties. ‘Gather round while I give you a few instructions. I see some familiar faces, which is good, because you can help me keep the newcomers in order.’

Thea glanced at Molly and saw her smiling benignly. There were several other smiling faces too. They were obviously all Gerald groupies. Well, if he could keep Molly under control he must have something going for him. Poor old Derek was well under the thumb.

‘And why aren’t you wearing a badge, young lady?’ Gerald asked Thea with an oily smile.

‘I’ve lost it,’ she told him somewhat defiantly, knowing she and Molly would never fight over men if Gerald was her ideal.

‘It’s all right, Gerald, she’s with me,’ said Molly. ‘You remember me? Arles, last year? Molly Pickford?’

‘Molly! Good to have you aboard again. And you’ve brought a chum. Jolly good. Now, the toilettes are over in that direction, people, and the trolleys are over there.’

Thea could see people debating which was their greatest need and said, ‘Shall I go and get a few trolleys and bring them over? Otherwise they’ll all disappear.’