No, I had to play the ingénue, the young, carefree girlabout-town—which wasn’t going to be easy. I was young, and reasonably carefree, but I had never been the girl about any kind of town in my life! I considered going to find Belinda and bringing her along for authenticity, but I didn’t want to involve her in any kind of potential scandal. To tell the truth, I felt a little guilty about Belinda. She had been an absolute brick for me in the past, and now she was stuck in a miserable pension while I was enjoying this delightful villa.

“Mummy,” I interrupted their discussion. “You remember Belinda, don’t you? My friend from school?”

“The naughty one? The one you said was turning out like me?” She smiled.

“She’s here in Nice and she doesn’t have much money at the moment so I wondered if we could squeeze her in here, at the villa.”

“She wouldn’t want to be this far out of town, darling,” Mummy said dismissively. “Too cut off from all the exciting goings-on. It does rather put a damper on nightlife, unless she wants to pay for taxis.”

“But if she wanted to come—is there a spare bedroom she could have?”

My mother shrugged charmingly. “Darling, I’d love to help but one does like to keep a couple of good bedrooms available just in case someone interesting turns up out of the blue—like my darling Noel, for example. Noel Coward, I mean. He promised he’d come to visit.”

“I heard he had a young lover—of the male persuasion,” Vera said bluntly.

“As Georgie said so wisely, does one really need to tie everything in to sex?” Mummy laughed and tossed back that gorgeous blond hair. “He is the most amusing man I have ever met and he makes me laugh. Max never makes me laugh. Max never makes anyone laugh.”

“I think it’s time you said bye-bye to Max,” Coco commented, stubbing out her cigarette in the butter on her plate.

“I suppose you’re right. But he is so frightfully rich and generous, and the sex is quite divine,” Mummy said, “although I really don’t think Germany will be the place for me soon—not with that silly little man Hitler shouting at everyone.”

“He can’t possibly last,” Vera said. “He is too ridiculous for words. Surely they must see through him soon.”

“One hopes,” Mummy said. She got up. “Well, to work, my darlings. Georgie, go and compose your telegram. Vera and Coco can start going through their guest list. I think I’ll go and turn my considerable charms on the inspector with the big feet. He had his men take names and addresses, didn’t he? Then we can see who gate-crashed.”