‘Well, I thought the bath was awfully small, for one,’ said a woman who’d brought her husband with her and so had a natural advantage over those who hadn’t.

‘What was it like for two?’ asked Thea under her breath.

Another Home Counties accent drifted across the clink of glasses. ‘I looked and looked, but although they had everything else, they didn’t have cards with “to my cleaning lady” on, so I had to just get her one with flowers.’

Thea was hypnotised and didn’t at first hear her neighbour’s kindly enquiry. ‘Is this your first Tiger Tour?’ She was certainly the wrong side of seventy-five but had a definite twinkle.

‘Yes,’ Molly answered for her. ‘She’s come with me.’

‘I see,’ said the old lady, sizing up Molly immediately. ‘It’s nice to have a younger companion when you’re getting on.’

Molly opened her mouth to protest when the old woman went on, ‘Just teasing, dear.’ She gave Thea a roguish wink.

‘Right, everyone,’ Gerald called, from the head of the table. ‘You old hands know the Tiger Tours rules. From the left, we each tell our neighbour our names, and then they introduce you to the person on their left, so we get to know each other’s names.’

‘I hate this,’ said the old lady. ‘I’m Doris, dear. Tell me your name but don’t bother to tell me anyone else’s because I won’t remember.’

‘You didn’t warn me there’d be parlour games,’ Thea reproached Molly when the ritual had been gone through. ‘I wouldn’t have come.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Molly, ‘it’s just a little exercise to help us get to know each other. Oh, good, here comes the wine.’

By the end of the evening Thea was feeling tired, but generally much more optimistic about the holiday. Not everyone was elderly, and the few that were seemed to make up for their years by their interest in each other and life in general. She yawned widely as they walked back to the hotel, didn’t join in the chatter and was asleep before Molly had finished her bedtime beauty routine.

After about an hour she woke up again. Molly snored, loudly and irregularly. Thea burrowed down under the covers, wondering if she’d ever be able to get back to sleep. Tomorrow she’d try to buy some earplugs, although how she’d manage without speaking much French she didn’t know. It wouldn’t be fair to Molly to ask the fluent Gerald to help her buy earplugs when he knew they were sharing and Molly had such a crush on him.