‘I’m just going to make the hospital rounds first.’

David arrived by cab. It was silly of him not to have a car. He saw well enough to drive, but even as a boy he hadn’t liked to. If they were by themselves, Diana always drove. Her distracted irritation with him vanished the moment he was beside her.

‘If anything has happened to her, I’ll never forgive myself,’ she heard herself saying, those rote love lines she had listened to so often.

‘I’m sure she’s all right,’ David answered, and she clung to that reassurance as if he had clairvoyant powers.

‘The minute we’ve heard,’ David said, ‘I’m going to go out and get those locks for the doors, and I’ll send Ben and Mike over to put them on. They’re very good at things like that.’

‘I didn’t want her to live in a prison,’ Diana said miserably.

‘I know,’ David said, ‘but she’ll understand. She’ll know why.’

The phone rang again.

‘That will be Jill,’ Diana said. ‘She’s out looking.’

‘Dr Crown?’

‘Yes?’

‘This is Dr Pilton at the General. We have a woman who answers the description you gave us.’

‘Oh, thank heaven! Is she all right?’

‘I think she will be. She’s suffering from exposure, and she’s a bit scratched and bruised. She’s very confused, but I gather that’s to be expected. I’d like to keep her here for observation for a day or so, but I would be grateful if you or a relative could come down and identify her.’

‘Right away,’ Diana said.

‘Shall I go with you?’ David asked.

‘Better not,’ she said, ‘but I’d be glad if you stayed until I got back. Unless it’s more serious than it sounds, I’m going to see if I can bring her home. If you could wait for Jill to call. She’s an old friend of ours, and I’d like her to know as soon as possible.’

Jill was at the hospital waiting for Diana.

‘The bastards won’t let me in to see her!’ Jill said. ‘Nobody but relatives or her “doctor”. I told them I was her lawyer. They didn’t believe me.’

‘You’re far too elegant to be credible … as anything but a distraught lover,’ Diana said.

Jill looked at Diana and burst into relieved laughter.

‘Dr Pilton please,’ Diana said to the receptionist.

The young doctor explained, ‘We’ve have to sedate her. She should sleep for several hours.’

Diana stood by the bed, looking down at Constance’s sleeping face, which in that unconscious repose was simply old and vulnerable. Whatever she’d been through, she would not be able to remember it.

‘Who brought her in?’