‘Are you lying in wait for me?’ he asked, a jauntiness in his tone to cover his sense of frailty.

‘As a matter of fact, I am,’ she said. ‘I wish you’d get your own phone.’

‘That’s odd,’ he said. ‘I was just thinking the same thing myself.’

She had opened the passenger door for him, and he sat down gratefully beside her.

‘Will you come home with me?’ she asked.

‘Trouble?’

‘I just think you’d be more comfortable out of that house for this evening. You know Mary is sometimes simply a maniac.’

‘Oh dear,’ David said.

‘Both the boys are out tonight. We could have a lovely evening, just the three of us, and by tomorrow she’ll have worn herself out.’

‘Is Ted there?’

‘Yes, he got home just a few minutes ago. As long as she’s not mad at him, he’s very good with her.’

David nodded. He was suddenly completely exhausted. Even the short walk to his own house could have defeated him.

‘What you need is a gin, a meal, and a bit of peace and quiet.’

‘That sounds about right,’ David said and made an effort not to put his head back against the seat while Laura drove.

Left alone for a moment in Laura’s living room, David dozed into an unpleasant quarrel with someone. His wife? Diana? Mary? He was relieved to be roused from it by Jack, who was offering him his gin.

‘So,’ Jack said, ‘another eruption from Mount St Mary.’

‘Let’s not talk about it yet,’ Laura said. ‘Let’s enjoy our drinks and dinner.’

Why couldn’t everyone have as sweet and sane a disposition as Laura? David was very glad he had two daughters. If there had been only Mary, he would have felt more to blame for what he had finally accepted as her inevitable chemistry. His first sip of gin warmed him, and by the time they had finished eating, he felt quite himself again.

‘There’s a great deal to be said for creature comforts,’ David said, though he refused Jack’s offer of brandy.

‘Dad,’ Laura began in a tone that meant this emotional recess was over, ‘I think maybe one problem for Mary is not knowing exactly what happened between Mother and your sister. With her imagination she can invent scenarios anybody else would laugh at. I understand why you’d rather not go into details, but maybe they are necessary … for Mary anyway.’

David sighed.

‘You sure about that brandy?’ Jack asked.

‘Yes,’ David said. ‘I’ve kept thinking that gradually I’d see a way to do all this, but I suppose, knowing myself, I would have put it off indefinitely rather than think it through. I promised Diana just this afternoon that I wouldn’t hurt her again. She said I might not be able to help it. She’s always been more realistic than I.’