‘That doesn’t stop her from embarrassing others. You should hear some of the things she says to Jake. Like how can a man in his fifties keep a woman my age satisfied?’

‘She doesn’t like him, does she?’

‘But I think she finds him attractive and it’s causing her problems. One of which is she is probably jealous of her own daughter—’

The conversation ended abruptly when Laura’s stepdaughter entered.

Janis came to greet Marianne, then eyed the table proudly. ‘Laura let Bessie and me lay the festive board without any help.’

‘And it looks lovely,’ Marianne congratulated her, surveying the gleaming crystal wine glasses and the silver candelabra enhancing the white damask cloth.

‘If you’re wondering why we moved the table in here from the dining room, Marianne,’ said Janis with a laugh, ‘we had to put both of the extra leaves in it, and there was then no room for all the chairs.’

‘We’re having some last minute and unexpected guests,’ Laura told Marianne. ‘Lyn is in town to appear with Arnold at a function.’

‘She said when I last spoke to her that she’d refused.’

‘He managed to persuade her, so I asked them to join us. Matthew is coming, too. When I called him he said he hadn’t been to a Seder for years, and it would also be a way of spending an evening with his mum.’

Did Matthew’s not mentioning his dad mean he and Arnold were still at daggers drawn? Marianne wondered. Even if they weren’t, what could there ever be between them other than a strained truce?

‘Matthew asked could he bring Pete,’ Laura went on, ‘and of course I said yes. Sir Arnold Klein won’t be too pleased about that, but it’s too bad!’

Marianne’s brother had become even more pompous since being knighted in the New Year Honours List. But Laura’s remark was twofold. Matthew’s bringing along the man he lived with was enough to make the matzo stick in Arnold’s throat.

Laura noted Marianne’s expression. ‘I’ll make sure to seat Arnold well away from them.’

‘You better had!’

‘But I think Matthew and Pete are lovely people,’ Janis declared, ‘and their private life is their business.’

Marianne watched her leave the room, a tall, slender girl whose tawny hair still had about it a sun-bleached look, though it was now three years since she had lived in South Africa. Her accent, like her father’s and her brother’s, would continue to denote her country of origin whose politics all three held in contempt. The opposite of Ralph’s talking like a New Zealander and being proud of it throughout his life, thought Marianne.

Laura interrupted her musing. ‘Janis has turned into a stunner, hasn’t she? And if she doesn’t get a place at a London college, come the autumn she’ll be leaving home.’

‘Would that upset you?’