‘I don’t need it,’ I said. ‘You can have it.’

‘Of course you’re not playing tennis these days, are you?’ she said.

‘No,’ said Dave, ‘not now. Tennis courts are off-limits for the likes of us.’

‘Anyway,’ she said to me, ‘the doctor wouldn’t have let you play.’

‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘Come on in and we’ll go to my room.’

We went upstairs. While I was looking in the cupboard for my racket, the girl was checking out my books. ‘Would you look at that!’ she said.

I turned around. I thought she meant a book, but she held out a ceramic kitten. ‘Go ahead and take it,’ I said. ‘After all, we won’t be able to stay here much longer.’

‘I’d love to,’ she said. ‘It would be a pity to leave all these pretty things here.’

‘That’s true,’ I said. ‘Feel free to take something else.’

She walked around the room and picked up a small vase, a little wooden bowl, an old copper box and a few other tiny things.

‘Oh,’ she exclaimed, ‘look at that handbag!’ She set the things she was holding down on the table and snatched up the handbag that was hanging on a chair. She inspected it carefully, opening it, and taking out everything that was inside.

‘Here,’ she said, ‘I’ll empty it entirely. It’s gorgeous.’

‘It’s my sister’s,’ I said. ‘She made it herself.’

‘Was she that good at leatherwork?’ she asked.

‘She made lots of things out of leather, all very beautiful.’

‘I’ll keep it for you,’ she said.

‘OK,’ I said.

‘It’s all right if I use it every once in a while, isn’t it?’

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Go ahead.’

She stood there, cradling the racket, the handbag and the other items in her arms and casting her eyes around the room as if she’d forgotten something.

‘That tile…’ she said.

I took it off the wall and placed it on top of the other things.

‘Here, let me get the door for you,’ I said.

‘I should have brought a bag,’ she said, smiling.

‘But of course you didn’t know you’d have to carry so many things. After all, you only came to get the racket, didn’t you?’

‘That’s right,’ she said. ‘Nice of you to let me use yours. It’s a good racket, isn’t it? I just thought I’d ask. It’s a pity to let it lie in the cupboard. Besides, it’ll be a while before you people are allowed to play tennis again.’

I accompanied her down the stairs and held the front door open for her. ‘Can you manage?’ I asked.

‘Oh yes,’ she said, then paused hesitantly on the mat. ‘Would you check if anyone’s coming?’ she asked. ‘You have to be so careful nowadays … If anyone saw me leaving your house … You never know … It would create a whole lot of unnecessary trouble.’

I threw my coat on over my pyjamas and looked down the street, first to the left, then to the right.