Chloe went, crossing the gold and green expanse of the Quad and turning out into the humdrum length of St Aldate’s. It was cold, and she shivered in her thin party clothes. But through the cold and her hangover, even through the sickening sense of having made a bad mistake with Oliver last night, Chloe felt the beginnings of strength beginning to flow back. She would survive all this, and the survival was starting even now on this cold but bracing morning. The thought lightened her step as she walked briskly down to Folly Bridge.

Inside the house she met Rose, mountainous in a stained pink wrap. Rose’s little eyes took in her crumpled clothes, missing nothing.

‘That’s it, darling,’ she chuckled. ‘You make sure you have a good time. One door closes and another opens, eh?’

Chloe smiled a thin smile and went on up the stairs. There was no sense in falling out with Rose, but the thought of her watching over the comings and goings in her house, like a spider in a web, was faintly distasteful.

Once in her room Chloe stripped off her clothes and bundled them away out of sight. Then she wrapped herself in the comforting brightness of her robe and went to take a shower.

Under the scalding water she felt that it was more than just spilled champagne and the clammy coldness of Oliver which was being washed away. The loss of Stephen still hurt, and she knew that it would take a long time to stop missing him and wanting him. But it was as if the repetitive pattern that had drawn her to him was being washed away.

So here I am, she thought. Just me. She smoothed expensive French soap over her arms and watched the spray carrying the lather away.

I’ll work, Chloe thought. It’s what I came to Oxford for, and I’ll do it. I’ll get a wonderful, brilliant degree and then I’ll use it to go off and do something fascinating. Stephen won’t matter, and neither will Leo or anybody at all.

The thought of her books spread open on her desk was calmly inviting.

Chloe reached out and turned off the water with a decisive flick. The last of the soapy water gurgled away.

Once the play was over, the end of the term was in sight.