‘Dearest Mrs Alleyn,’ said Cedric breathlessly, ‘do come in. We’ve been having a dreadfully naughty giggle over everything. The Birthday, you know, and all the wheels within wheels and so on. Do join us. Or are you too grand and upright? Dear me, that sounds as if you were a piano, doesn’t it?’

‘It’s all right,’ said Troy, ‘I won’t come in, thank you. I’m on my way upstairs.’

She went out, closing the door on their silence.

In the hall she found a completely strange elderly gentleman reading a newspaper before the fire. He wore London clothes, an old-fashioned wing collar and a narrow black tie. His face was thin and his hands blue-veined and knotty. When he saw Troy he dropped his newspaper, snatched off his pince-nez, and ejaculating ‘M-m-m-mah!’ rose nimbly to his feet.

‘Are you waiting to see somebody?’ Troy asked.

‘Thank yer, thank yer, no thank-yer,’ said the elderly gentleman rapidly. ‘Make myself known. Haven’t had the pleasure—Introduce myself. M-mah. Rattisbon.’

‘Oh, yes, of course,’ said Troy. ‘I knew you were coming. How do you do?’ She introduced herself.

Mr Rattisbon vibrated the tip of his tongue between his lips and wrung his hands. ‘How d’do,’ he gabbled. ‘Delighted. Take it, fellow-guests. If I may so designate myself. Professional visit.’

‘So’s mine,’ said Troy, picking the sense out of this collection of phrases. ‘I’ve been doing a job here.’

He glanced at the painting-smock she had not yet removed. ‘Surely,’ he clattered, ‘Mrs Roderick Alleyn? Née Troy?’

‘That’s it.’

‘Pleasure of your husband’s acquaintance,’ Mr Rattisbon explained. ‘Professional association. Twice. Admirable.’

‘Really?’ said Troy, at once delighted. ‘You know Roderick? Do let’s sit down.’

Mr Rattisbon sucked in his breath and made a crowing sound. They sat before the fire. He crossed his knees and joined his gnarled fingers. ‘He’s a drawing by Cruikshank,’ Troy thought. She began to talk to him about Alleyn, and he listened exactly as if she was making a series of statements which he would presently require his clerk to come in and witness. Troy was to remember vividly this quiet encounter, and how in the middle of her recital she broke off apologetically to say: ‘But I don’t know why I should bore you with these stories about Roderick.’

‘Bore?’ he said. ‘On the contrary. Entirely so. May I add, strictly in camera, that I—ah—had contemplated this call with some misgivings as—ah—a not altogether propitious necessity. I find myself unexpectedly received, and most charmingly so, by a lady for whose remarkable talents I have long entertained the highest regard. M-m-mah!’ Mr Rattisbon added, dipping like a sparrow towards Troy. ‘Entirely so.’

At this juncture Pauline and Desdemona appeared in the hall and bore down rapidly upon Mr Rattisbon.