Bimbo, with an air of mingled distaste and curiosity, intimated that he would and the two men left Moppett in the drawing-room. Standing back from the French window, she watched them at the car; Leonard talking, Bimbo with his hands in his pockets. ‘Trying,’ thought Moppett, ‘not to be interested, but he is interested. He’s a car man. He’s married her for his Bentley and his drinks and the grandeur and fun. She’s old. She can’t have all that much of what it takes. Or, by any chance, can she?’

A kind of contempt possessed her; a contempt for Desirée and Bimbo and anybody who was not like herself and Leonard. ‘Living dangerously,’ she thought, ‘that’s us.’ She wondered if it would be advisable to ask Leonard not to say ‘appreciated’, ‘okay’, ‘pardon me’, and ‘appro’. She herself didn’t mind how he talked: she even enjoyed their rows when he would turn foul-mouthed, adder-like, and brutal. Still, if they were to crash the county – ‘They’ll have to ask us,’ she thought, ‘after this. They can’t not. We’ve been clever as clever.’

She continued to peer slantwise through the window.

When Desirée returned, Moppett was looking with respect at a picture above the fireplace.

Desirée said there would be a parcel at the grocer’s in Little Codling. ‘Your quickest way to the station is to turn right, outside the gates,’ she said. ‘We couldn’t be more obliged to you.’

She went out with Moppett to the car and when it had shot out of sight down the avenue, linked her arm in her husband’s.

‘Shockers,’ she said, ‘aren’t they?’

‘Honestly, darling, I can’t think what you’re about.’

‘Can’t you?’

‘None of my business, of course,’ he muttered. She looked at him with amusement.

‘Don’t you like them?’ she asked.

‘Like them!’

‘I find myself quite amused by them,’ she said and added indifferently, ‘they do know what they want, at least.’

‘It was perfectly obvious, from the moment they crashed their way in, that they were hell-bent on getting asked for tonight.’

‘I know.’

‘Are you going to pretend not to notice their hints?’

‘Oh,’ she said with a faint chuckle, ‘I don’t think so. I expect I’ll ask them.’

Bimbo said: ‘Of course I never interfere.’

‘Of course,’ she agreed. ‘And how wise of you, isn’t it?’ He drew away from her. ‘You don’t usually sulk, either.’

‘You let people impose on you.’

‘Not,’ she said gently, ‘without realizing it,’ and he reddened.

‘That young man,’ he said, ‘is a monster. Did you smell him?’

‘In point of fact he’s got quite a share of what it takes.’

‘You can’t mean it!’

‘Yes, I do. I never tell lies about sex, as such. I should think he’s probably a bad hat, wouldn’t you?’

‘I would. As shifty as they make them.’