Thea loved Aix-en-Provence. It was a charming town of manageable size, and stuffed with beautiful fountains, old buildings and delightful cafés. It was a shame that she slept so badly at night because it meant she was prone to falling asleep on the coach. If Molly caught her with her eyes shut, she would dig her in the ribs and order her to look at the view. It wasn’t that Thea didn’t want to see yet another view of Le Mont St Victoire – she loved the mountain and fully appreciated Cézanné’s apparent obsession with it – but she was tired.

On the fourth day the party gathered in a beautiful room in one of the ancient hôtels which had been taken over by the university. Portraits of Aix notables stared down disapprovingly at the plastic stacking chairs which were put out for the students, old Tiger Tour hands got out notebooks and pens. It was time for the lecture on Cézanne.

Thea sat at the back, well away from Molly, with some of the older guests who might well nod off and not criticise her for doing the same. That afternoon was designated ‘free time’ and Thea knew Molly wanted to go shopping. It wouldn’t be free time for either of them: it would cost Molly a fortune and Thea would be longing to escape.

The lecturer came in. At first Thea thought he must be someone called in to move chairs or something, for he was far too young to have anything to do with a Tiger Tour. Younger even than Thea, he was tall, dark and delicious. Thea sat up straighter and decided not to fall asleep after all – ancient monuments had a beauty all their own, but so did well-built young men with blue eyes and curling eyelashes. He was, in Petal’s parlance, ‘well-fit’.

Thea kept her attention on him for some moments, but then realised that his good looks did not make him a good speaker. He mumbled, he didn’t smile and, unlike the masterful Gerald, he didn’t bring his subjects to life with his brisk enthusiasm. Thea decided to nap after all. His voice, what she could hear of it, had an Irish lilt to it, which was pleasantly soporific.

After about ten minutes, Thea woke up and decided she wasn’t going shopping with Molly; she was going to have lunch instead. Thea liked shopping as much as anyone, but not with someone who had a gold credit card and an urgent need for a fiftieth handbag. Besides, she was still not getting much sleep and she didn’t have the energy.