But they were safely launched now and Damon would soon be talking about his grandfather. She could leave them.

For the moment at least, anguish, division had been kept at bay. By walking very carefully they might be able to ignore it. Yet—it was there. In the old days they had not had to walk carefully, so Julia thought after supper when they had gone back into the study to have their coffee. And now, in the slight pause as for a moment no voice filled the silence, what was clear was the lack of something. The intangible bond which had made silence another form of communication was no longer there. Silence had become dangerous.

“How’s your work going these days, Damon?” The question was a polite one. It had been asked to fill the gap. Julia felt as if tiredness flowed out of Edward like a fog. He drank his coffee down as if to give himself an injection, and turned to Damon, but all the time all around him was this fog. Yet he had enjoyed his dinner—perhaps that was why. He had relaxed, almost, had praised Damon’s burgundy, had seemed like a reasonable facsimile of his old self, just as the whole evening because of their united effort, was a reasonable facsimile of all the other evenings. Julia was not prepared for Damon’s answer.

“I haven’t been able to work for a week, if you must know,” he said quite crossly. Then, as he caught Julia’s warning look, he added, “But I’ve been stuck anyway, as a matter of fact …”

Edward got up to hand his coffee cup to Julia for more. For a moment Damon’s words lay on the air, as if they had not been spoken. Edward seemed preoccupied. Perhaps, indeed, he hadn’t heard. Then, standing at the fireplace again, he faced Damon and said, “We’ve got to talk about it, Damon.”

“Oh, do we?” Julia said quickly. “We don’t really, do we? I mean—can’t we just be peaceful? It’s been such a happy evening,” she said, as if she were indeed bidding it now farewell.

“Yes, we do.” Damon stood too, laid down his coffee cup and faced Edward. For a second she had the vision of two boxers eying each other in the ring. But no, it must not be like that. She must stand between them somehow, ward off the blows, prevent its happening.