‘I’m so very glad you’ve come.’ Olivia reached out to shake hands with instinctive formality, and for a second Anna held her small, smooth hand. ‘Come and sit with us and take tea,’ she said, gesturing towards the table. As she spoke, Anna noticed an odd sing-song quality in her voice, like many Asians sounded speaking English. ‘Edith and I had almost finished. You won’t mind us cutting it a bit short today, will you?’

Edith, an awkward woman in her sixties, gave a nervous giggle. ‘No, we’ve done well today, haven’t we, Olivia? I think we deserve a rest.’

‘I’ll just go and see if Sean’s fallen asleep in the kitchen,’ Olivia said. ‘Sit, Anna – please.’

She took a chair, noticing a strong perfumed smell in the room. Edith was stowing books into her mock-leather bag. She had tired-looking skin even in this muted light, but large, interested grey eyes.

‘Are you another of Olivia’s young friends?’ she asked.

Just then there came an odd sound from the kitchen, a kind of muffled outburst. Edith pretended not to notice. Distracted, Anna said, ‘Er, sort of.’ She began to feel she was in a dream. ‘What is it Olivia teaches you?’

‘Bengali,’ Edith said, as if surprised that Anna didn’t know. ‘She’s very good, you know. Very gifted woman, what with all her music and everything. I’ve learned to speak the language quite a bit over the years what with one thing and another. Now I’ve retired I thought I’d do it properly and learn to read and write better.’ She gave a little giggle. ‘You know – Tagore in the original . . .’

There was another slam of the front door as she spoke and in seconds a black face topped by very short hair appeared panting round the door. ‘Awright?’ He nodded at them both. ‘Sean here?’

‘In the kitchen,’ Edith said. ‘Shall I . . .?’ She made to get up but the young man, in shorts and a sports shirt, was already across the room.

‘He’s going to get roasted, I tell you . . . Sean – the tournament? You were supposed to be down there an hour ago. Where’s your brain, man?’

There was a gasp. ‘Oh shit! – Sorry, Olivia. I forgot. Have they started?’

‘Course they’ve started. I paired up with Rob for the first set, but we need you there.’

‘Look, Theo – ’ Sean ran through, shouting back over his shoulder. ‘You go on. I’ll be down, OK?’

He was followed by a sweating Theo, shouting, ‘Don’t forget your racquet,’ and ‘See yer,’ in Anna and Edith’s direction. For an odd second Anna found herself missing Richard. She felt old, vulnerable and out of place with all these new people.

‘Who are these blokes around the place?’ she asked Edith.

‘They’re Olivia’s lodgers,’ Edith said, bravely accepting, but obviously not quite sure about it all. ‘They have the top floor, you see. There’s so much space. Sean studies engineering – I think – and Theo’s doing some sort of science, chemistry . . . And there’s Ben who you probably haven’t met. He’s a postgraduate. Something to do with languages.’