‘A tinsel picture, as you see,’ he said, ‘of Madame Vestris en travesti in jockey’s costume.’ He looked sideways at Richard. ‘Beguiling little breeches, don’t you think? Do you suppose it would appeal to Miss Bellamy?’

‘I don’t see how it could fail.’

‘It’s rare-ish. The frame’s contemporary. I’m afraid it’s twelve guineas.’

‘It’s mine,’ Richard said. ‘Or rather, it’s Mary’s.’

‘You’re sure? Then, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’ll get Nell to make a birthday parcel of it. There’s a sheet of Victorian tinsel somewhere. Nell, my dear! Would you – ?’

He tapped away and presently Anelida returned with the green jug and his parcel, beautifully wrapped.

Richard put his hand on his dispatch-case. ‘What do you suppose is in there?’ he asked.

‘Not – ? Not the play? Not Husbandry in Heaven?’

‘Hot from the typist.’ He watched her thin hands arrange the tulips. ‘Anelida, I’m going to show it to Mary.’

‘You couldn’t choose a better day,’ she said warmly and, when he didn’t answer, ‘What’s the matter?’

‘There isn’t a part for her in it,’ he blurted out.

After a moment she said: ‘Well, no. But does that matter?’

‘It might. If, of course, it ever comes to production. And, by the way, Timmy Gantry’s seen it and makes agreeable noises. All the same, it’s tricky about Mary.’

‘But why? I don’t see –’

‘It’s not all that easy to explain,’ he mumbled.

‘You’ve already written a new play for her and she’s delighted with it, isn’t she? This is something quite different.’

‘And better? You’ve read it.’

‘Immeasurably better. In another world. Everybody must see it.’

‘Timmy Gantry likes it.’

‘Well, there you are! It’s special. Won’t she see that?’

He said: ‘Anelida, dear, you don’t really know the theatre yet, do you? Or the way actors tick over?’

‘Well, perhaps I don’t. But I know how close you are to each other and how wonderfully she understands you. You’ve told me.’

‘That’s just it,’ Richard said, and there followed a long silence.

‘I don’t believe,’ he said at last, ‘that I’ve ever told you exactly what she and Charles did?’

‘No,’ she agreed. ‘Not exactly. But –’

‘My parents, who were Australians, were friends of Mary’s. They were killed in a car smash on the Grande Corniche when I was rising two. They were staying with Mary at the time. There was no money to speak of. She had me looked after by her own old nanny, the celebrated Ninn, and then, after she had married Charles, they took me over, completely. I owe everything to her. I like to think that, in a way, the plays have done something to repay. And now – you see what I go and do.’