‘The thing about actors, for instance, that makes them different from ordinary people is that they are technicians of emotion. They are trained not to suppress but to flourish their feelings. If an actor is angry, he says to himself and to everyone else, “My God, I am angry. This is what I’m like when I’m angry. This is how I do it.” It doesn’t mean he’s angrier or less angry than you or I, who bite our lips and feel sick and six hours later think up all the things we might have said. He says them. If he likes someone, he lets them know it with soft music and purring chest notes. If he’s upset he puts tears in his voice. Underneath he’s as nice a fellow as the next man. He just does things more thoroughly.’

‘You do sound cold-blooded.’

‘Bless me soul, I take pinches of salt whenever I enter a stage door. Just a precautionary measure.’

Barbara’s eyes had filled with tears. Dikon took her hand in his. ‘Do you know why I’ve said all this?’ he asked. ‘If I was a noble-minded young man with gentlemanly instincts, I should go white to the lips and in a strangulated voice agree with everything you say. Since I can’t pretend we’re not talking about Gaunt I should add that it is our privilege to sacrifice ourselves to a Great Artist. Because I’m Gaunt’s secretary I should say that my lips were sealed and stand on one side like a noble-minded dumb-bell while you made yourself miserable over him. I don’t behave like this because I’m not such a fool, and also because I’m falling very deeply in love with you myself. There are Webley and your father going into a huddle on the verandah so we can’t pursue this conversation. Go back into the house. I love you. Put that on your needles and knit it.’

IV

Somewhat shaken by his own boldness, Dikon watched Barbara run into the house. She had given him one bewildered and astonished glance before she turned tail and fled. ‘So I’ve done it,’ he thought, ‘and how badly! No more pleasant talks with Barbara. No more arguments and confidences. After this she’ll fly before me like the wind. Or will she think it her duty to hand me a lemon on a silver salver and tell me nicely that she hopes we’ll still be friends?’ The more he thought about it the more deeply convinced did he become that he had behaved like a fool. ‘But it’s all one,’ he thought. ‘She’s never even looked at me. All I’ve done is to make her rather more miserable about Gaunt than she need have been.’