But when, hot and desperate, she had finally dressed, and covered the floral with a clean overall, she pressed her hands together. ‘Oh God,’ she thought, ‘make him like it here! Please dear God, make him like it.’

III

‘Can you possibly endure it?’ Dikon asked.

Gaunt was lying full length on the modern sofa. He raised his arms above his head. ‘All,’ he whispered, ‘I can endure all but Questing. Questing must be kept from me.’

‘But I told you—’

‘You amaze me with your shameless parrot cry of “I told you so”,’ said Gaunt mildly. ‘Let us have no more of it.’ He looked out of the corner of his eye at Dikon. ‘And don’t look so tragic, my good ass,’ he added. ‘I’ve been a small-part touring actor in my day. This place is strangely reminiscent of a one-night fit-up. No doubt I can endure it. I should be dossing down in an Anderson shelter, by God. I do well to complain. Only spare me Questing, and I shall endure the rest.’

‘At least we shall be spared his conversation this evening. He has a previous engagement. Lest he offer to put it off, I told him you would be desolated but had already arranged to dine in your rooms and go to bed at nine. So away he went.’

‘Good. In that case I shall dine en famille and go to bed when it amuses me. I have yet to meet Mr Smith, remember. Is it too much to hope that he will stage another fight?’

‘It seems he only gets drunk when his remittance comes in.’ Dikon hesitated and then asked: ‘What did you think of the Claires, sir?’

‘Marvellous character parts. Overstated, of course. Not quite West End. A number-one production on tour, shall we say? The Colonel’s moustache is a little too thick in both senses.’

Dikon felt vaguely resentful. ‘You captivated Mrs Claire,’ he said.

Gaunt ignored this. ‘If one could take them as they are,’ he said. ‘If one could persuade them to appear in those clothes and speak those lines! My dear, they’d be a riot. Miss Claire! Dikon, I didn’t believe she existed.’

‘Actually,’ said Dikon stiffly, ‘she’s rather attractive. If you look beyond her clothes.’

‘You’re a remarkably swift worker if you’ve been able to do that.’

‘They’re extraordinarily kind and, I think, very nice.’

‘Until we arrived you never ceased to exclaim against them. Why have you bounced round to their side all of a sudden?’

‘I only said, sir, that I thought you would be bored by them.’

‘On the contrary I’m agreeably entertained. I think they’re all darlings and marvellous comedy. What is your trouble?’