‘Oh, ten years and more. Billie . . . she’s like Karlchen to me, you know? I like her. And a man has never come between us. I just can’t imagine that ever happening. Look at her, the way she runs! As if her pants are on fire!’

Sibylle came over.

I liked watching her run; she had long legs, a firm torso, and her dark-blue swimsuit glowed against the green of the grass.

‘Well, you monkeys?’ said Billie and sat down with us. ‘How was it?’

‘Profitable,’ said the Princess. ‘Fatty here did some exercises, his knees will be coming through the back of his neck any minute . . . he’s been very good. How long have you been skipping now?’

‘Three minutes,’ I said very proudly. ‘How did you sleep, Miss Billie?’

‘Quite well. At first, when the woman got the small room ready for us, I thought it might be too hot, with the sun shining in there all day, but it wasn’t really that hot at all. So I slept quite well.’

We all looked attentively ahead, and swayed to and fro.

‘It’s great that you’ve come,’ said the Princess, and tickled the back of Billie’s neck very gently with a long blade of grass. ‘We were going to live here like a couple of hermits–but then first his friend Karlchen arrived, and now you – but it’s so quiet and peaceful . . . no, honestly . . .’

‘How kind of you Ma’am,’ said Billie and laughed.

I loved her laugh; sometimes it was silvery, but sometimes there was a dovelike quality about it – a cooing laugh.

‘What a pretty ring, Billie,’ I said.

‘It’s nothing . . . a little everyday ring . . .’

‘Show me . . . an opal? Opals . . . you know . . . opals are unlucky!’

‘Not for me, Herr Peter, not for me. Should I wear a diamond instead?’

‘Of course you should. And then you can use it to scratch your name in the mirror of your chambre séparée. That’s what all great cocottes do.’

‘Thanks. By the way, Walter said he’d been in a cabinet particulier in Paris too, and someone had scratched something on the mirror there. Guess what it said!’

‘Well?’

‘Vive l’anarchie! I thought that was great.’ We were pleased.

‘Shall we gymnase a bit more?’ I asked.

‘Not for me, thanks,’ said the Princess and stretched. ‘I’ve done my bit. Billie, your swimsuit’s coming undone!’ She buttoned it up for her.