Jasper thought: Shut your mouth, you overprivileged little shit.

Evie replied to Dave. “This is only for St. Julian’s News,” she said.

Jasper wrote the article that evening.

As soon as he saw it typed out, he realized it could be more than just a piece for the student paper. Hank was a star, Evie was a minor actress, and Lloyd was a member of Parliament: this could be a big story, he thought with mounting excitement. If he could get something published in a national newspaper it would give his career prospects a major boost.

It could also get him in trouble with the Williams family.

He gave his article to Sam Cakebread the next day.

Then, with trepidation, he phoned the tabloid Daily Echo.

He asked for the news editor. He did not get the news editor, but he was put through to a reporter called Barry Pugh. “I’m a student journalist, and I’ve got a story for you,” he said.

“Okay, go ahead,” said Pugh.

Jasper hesitated only a moment. He was betraying Evie and the entire Williams family, he knew; but he plunged on anyway. “It’s about the daughter of a member of Parliament who is sleeping with a pop star.”

“Good,” said Pugh. “Who are they?”

“Could we meet?”

“I suppose you want some money?”

“Yes, but that’s not all.”

“What else?”

“I want my name on the article when it appears.”

“Let’s get the story down first, then we’ll see.”

Pugh was trying to employ the kind of blandishments Jasper had used on Evie. “No, thanks,” Jasper said firmly. “If you don’t like the story, you don’t have to print it, but if you do use it you must put my name on it.”

“All right,” said Pugh. “When can we meet?”

• • •

Two days later, at breakfast in Great Peter Street, Jasper read in the Guardian that Martin Luther King was planning a massive demonstration of civil disobedience in Washington in support of a civil rights bill. King was forecasting that there would be one hundred thousand people. “Boy, I’d love to see that,” said Jasper.

Evie said: “Me, too.”

It was to take place in August, during the university vacation, so Jasper would be free. But he could not afford ninety pounds for the fare to the USA.

Daisy Williams opened an envelope and said: “My goodness! Lloyd, here’s a letter from your German cousin Rebecca!”

Dave, the youngest, swallowed a mouthful of Sugar Puffs and said: “Who the heck is Rebecca?”

His father had been leafing through newspapers with the speed of a professional politician. Now he looked up and said: “Not really a cousin. She was adopted by some distant relations of mine after her parents died in the war.”

“I’d forgotten we had German relatives,” Dave said. “Gott im Himmel!”

Jasper had noticed that Lloyd was suspiciously vague about his relatives. The late Bernie Leckwith had been his stepfather, but no one ever mentioned his real father. Jasper felt sure Lloyd had been illegitimate. It was not quite a tabloid story: bastardy was not as much of a disgrace as formerly. All the same, Lloyd never gave details.