“He didn’t like tarmac or concrete,” I said. “When he was riding high there used to be as many as a hundred cars parked there, all chauffeur driven. When Tom Sindram entertained he did it in style.”

“I thought he was mean,” the Warden said.

“He was. But entertaining his business friends was a different matter. He called it casting bread upon the waters.”

“A hundred cars,” the Warden said. “Fantastic.”

“He walked on the battlements every evening,” I said. “And had the portcullis lowered at night.”

“It’s been taken out now. My decision, I’m afraid. By the way, Councillor Lampton, I hope you weren’t offended by those, shall we say, rather spirited questions . . .”

“The more spirited the better,” I said.

“It was very good of you to come at such short notice. I don’t want you to feel that it’s not appreciated.”

“I’m always glad to help out,” I said.

From the passage came the sound of music. It was an old Vera Lynn tune, Auf Wiedersehen; I felt a not unpleasant melancholy. The room began to empty.

“We’re having a little social,” the Warden said. “Would you care to join us?”

“No, thank you. It’s getting rather late.”

We’ll meet again, we’ll meet again, my dear. It would be better if we didn’t, but Warley was a small place. I would see her in church, I would see her at the Thespians, I would see her at other people’s houses, I might even if I wanted to bring grief upon myself, see her at my own house. And now I wouldn’t be able to look at Sindram Grange again without thinking of her.

I made my farewells and slipped out of the room quickly before Mrs. Fulwood could see me. It was growing dark now; as the car clattered over the drawbridge I began to feel with an ab­surd intensity, a sense of adventure. I was not finishing some­thing, I was not escaping, I was setting out from the castle on the hill, swooping down the narrow winding road into the valley. Norah was there, just as the poplars which bordered the road were, just as the silver birches at the next bend were; she would be at the Hewleys this very moment. And I would be in her mind; we remember those we disagree with rather than those with whom we’re in perfect accord.