I don’t really know if he’s happy. Maybe he is in a state of anguish, in hell.

His father liked a retainer. Len is part of a small tribe of cockneys brought into the palisade. They are agreeable, cheery folk. Back in the old days they had to sign a contract which forbade them to embezzle, purloin, consume or keep any money and any other things whatsoever shall be entrusted to them. In return they had a job for life, which could be passed on to their children. In later years they had a secure pension and free membership of the sports and social club, current president, Julian Trevelyan-Tubal Esquire. So it is in their interest to be dutiful and grateful. Lovely jubbly, kushti.

Kimberly has the children ready. It’s an old-fashioned family scene: Kim, the two children in their pyjamas and Evija, the nanny, hanging back with Estonian diffidence. Evija has a lovely, pale skin, with something of the dairy in its Slavic pallor. Behind them the hall, vivid with paintings, and a huge contemporary chandelier made entirely, if you look closely, of old knives and forks and pewter mugs and plates; the rugs on the antique French flooring, the rather grand staircase curving sinuously upwards. Sam jumps at him and he catches him at about crotch height and hugs him. Sam’s body is full of solid animal vitality, like an otter or a piglet, and he shouts slightly hysterically ‘Daddy, Daddy’ as Julian hoists him up into the air and then kisses him on the descent. From birth his children came equipped with distinct personalities. Also, both are unmistakably faithful to their genders, without any prompting. Alice waits her turn, waiting almost timorously, almost seductively. When Julian lifts her, there is a gentle, pliant submissiveness as if her only wish is to dissolve her self into his. These past days have been a strain, and he finds now that the tensions are released that he is on the verge of weeping.

‘What have you brought us, Daddy?’ shouts Sam.

‘That’s just a tad mercenary, little guy,’ says Kimberly.

Julian puts Alice down, still holding her hand, and he kisses Kimberly. Then he hugs all three of them, corralling them.

‘OK, bedtime. Straight to bed,’ Kimberly says.

‘Presents first?’ Julian says. This is Kimberly’s jurisdiction.

‘OK, just this once.’

Len slips forward from the entrance hall with two exquisitely wrapped parcels.

‘This is for you, Alice,’ Julian says, ‘and this is for you, Sammy Seal. Go to your room with Evija and I’ll come up in a minute or two to say goodnight. Say goodbye to Uncle Len. OK, up you go with Evija. Goodnight, Len, thank you.’