‘Darling, this is Gerald O’Brien, another Irishman, but don’t hold that against him.’

Laura had to smile and allowed the man to take her hand. ‘How do you do?’ he said formally. ‘In England people seem awfully keen on kissing each other when they’re introduced, but I’m a bit old-fashioned.’ He smiled apologetically and Laura was touched.

For a few seconds she searched for traces of Dermot’s voice in Gerald O’Brien’s, but she couldn’t find any. Of course there were hundreds of accents and variations of accents from Ireland, but part of her had hoped for some connection with the accent uppermost in her mind.

‘I am too, I think,’ she said, shaking his hand. ‘A bit old-fashioned, I mean.’

Eleanora, having kissed Laura, plumped on to her chair with a little puff of air as if she had descended from a height. ‘I see you’ve started on the wine already, good girl. Let’s have a bottle. I know drinking at lunchtime has quite gone out with the younger crowd, but I still enjoy a glass or two with my lunch.’

She perused the wine list with concentration. Gerald O’Brien and Laura exchanged shy glances. He was not your stereotypical Irishman, thought Laura. He was quite charming enough but he had none of the easy blarney that seemed to ooze from Dermot. She pushed down the familiar ache.

The ordering didn’t take long. Laura had had time to change her mind several times while she was waiting and both Gerald and Eleanora were decisive. The wine came and was poured and Eleanora put her elbows on the table like a woman about to make a statement. Then she caught sight of someone over the other side of the room. ‘Oh my God!’ she said. ‘So sorry – got to table hop although it’s frightfully bad manners – but it’s Susie Blanquette. And she’s with Hubert von Trapp! How dare she? She promised she wouldn’t look at another publisher until she’d finished her novel and had something to sell! We were going to have a beauty parade and now it looks as if she’d going with Hubert. Excuse me. Must stop this!’

Laura found herself smiling. Only Eleanora could leave two quite obviously shy people on their own, at their first meeting, before they could even pretend to know each other well enough to make conversation.

She swept off on her mission leaving Gerald and Laura to look anxiously at each other, both determined to make an effort. ‘So what do you do, Laura?’ asked Gerald.