A man she seemed to know approached her, offering his arm, and she accepted, gliding through at a sedate pace. As she passed us, I could smell her perfume: sweet and playful, it seemed to be drifting through the whole room, and the man at my side looked from me to her, then took a sip of his Champagne.

She stopped walking to tap on Nick’s shoulder, and he turned and broke into a smile. What was he thinking at that moment, with us both in the room? Her and me. I would have loved to have known that. So I hesitated, but, well, jealousy got the better of me and I walked over, with Charles following in my wake. ‘Hello, darling,’ Nick said, as I approached.

Lorelei turned her head ever so slightly to look at me. One of the curls from her hair swung to brush her cheek. ‘You must be Jane,’ she said. Her voice was airy but full of confidence. Now that I was beside her, I felt weak in her presence, like the new girl at school. Up close, I could see the cat-like curves of her green eyes, and I must admit I was pleased to see the traces of crow’s feet there.

‘Yes. Lorelei?’ I tried to sound unconcerned by her presence.

‘That’s right. Hello, Charles.’

‘Miss Addington. It’s very nice to see you again.’

She smiled weakly at him, before examining me and the glass of white wine that I was clutching for security. ‘Good God, if you’re married to Nick, you’ll need something stronger than that,’ she burst out, taking it from my hand and grabbing a passing waiter. ‘Brandy for the lady.’ He scuttled away to find some.

It was not what I had been expecting, and I hoped it wasn’t some trick that she was pulling on me.

‘Will it be that bad?’ I asked. I didn’t know whether I needed to be guarded or to go with the joke.

‘Marriage to Nick? Probably. It’s hard for me to tell: I was squiffy for most of my sentence.’

I was taken aback. She really was being friendly. Yet, somehow, I found that harder to deal with than outright hostility. Charles looked, as Nick had said he might be, star-struck. And Nick was clearly amused by his former wife. ‘I’ll have to take that as a tip,’ I said, still uncertain how I should respond.

‘A tip from me? Golly, I’m the last person you should take one from.’ She took the glass of brandy that had arrived with the waiter, put it in my hand and swapped her empty Champagne glass for a full one from his tray. ‘Now, see that off and we can take it from there.’ She knocked back her drink and indicated for me to do the same.

Nick intervened. ‘Following Lorelei in anything tends to result in madness or severe injury,’ he said.