She busied herself with her register. ‘All right. I’ll just do a very brief hello, but then it’s down to you.’ Was this the moment to ask him why he’d agreed to run the course? Maybe not. It might have been complicated and someone could appear at any moment.

She looked at her watch and then at Dermot to see that he’d just done the same thing. It was still only ten to ten. They exchanged rueful smiles.

‘Eleanora’s coming on the last night,’ said Laura to break the anxious silence. ‘Which is good because she’ll tell them what’s what if we can’t.’

Dermot nodded. ‘She can be very scary. I always deal with Tricia, her assistant, if I can.’

‘Oh, I’ve met Tricia.’ Laura wondered if all this small talk was actually making them more nervous. ‘So, have you got any ideas for exercises?’

‘Mm. Some.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll be fine once I’ve started, but I always get like this before a gig.’

‘You would never have guessed it,’ said Laura, recalling his prowl through his fans, his leap on to the stage, his rock-star confidence. He was wearing a rumpled linen suit which would have looked silly on anyone else but seemed to go well with his generally rumpled look. He was so staggeringly attractive he could pull on any old pair of jeans and manky sweatshirt and look sexy. She decided now was as good a time as any to find out why he was here. ‘But if it terrifies you so much, why are you doing this course?’

He made a nonchalant gesture that didn’t quite come off. ‘The money.’

‘Really?’ She found this hard to believe. She didn’t know anything about his finances, of course, but she doubted that the course would be well paid enough to tempt him if he didn’t want something else out of it. Her own fee was welcome, but it wasn’t huge.

‘I’m doing it under sufferance. And under false pretences.’

‘What do you mean? Are you saying that Eleanora made you?’ If she had such power over him why hadn’t she just ordered him to do the festival? Why had she been sent to persuade him?

He shrugged, sighed and came back to the desk. ‘Let’s just say that Eleanora told me – reminded me – that you learn what you teach. She thought it might get me writing again.’

‘I thought she didn’t know about your block?’

‘She didn’t actually say that, but I know it’s what she felt. She must suspect. She’s no fool.’

‘Well, that makes perfect sense!’ Laura smiled, happy that he was making a positive step towards getting over his writer’s block.

‘Does it?’ His smile was incomprehensible. ‘Then I’m glad.’

A bit confused, Laura went on. ‘So what about the false pretences bit?’