Pearly’s official welcome speech wasn’t long. He had the experience and shrewdness to know that people hadn’t come to listen to him. He was well enough received and then handed over to Nancy, who seemed not at all discomforted by being a woman among a mass of men. ‘Well done,’ said Andrew quietly when Pearly had left the stage and they stood listening to Nancy. Pearly wondered if Andrew found it all quaintly colonial, but if so he gave no sign of it. Again Pearly was aware of the quality and match of Andrew’s clothes, although such things usually passed him by. The old boys exhibited a wide range of formality and taste in what they wore. Some, like Hugh Porteous, favoured a suit, in his case rather tight as his girth had expanded along with his ego. Many sported ties and appeared increasingly throttled as the night progressed. A few wore designer jeans with conscious informality. Some were just plainly scruffy. Andrew had on a dark blue, open-necked shirt, a pale linen jacket and light trousers. Pearly felt slightly lumpish and nondescript in comparison. He noticed again how still Andrew could be, whether standing or sitting; still, but not tense, relaxed and attentive to his surroundings while other people fidgeted, moved their weight from foot to foot as horses do, fumbled with their ears, thrust their faces forward to indicate attention or threw their heads back in exaggerated response to humour.

As the evening went on there was a gradual but discernible pattern to the constant eddies of movement within the close-packed hall as old boys of similar age began to group together. Yellow tag gravitating to yellow, blue to blue, green to green, and as increasingly people were in the company of those they knew, or with whom they shared at least a common fund of experience, the conversations became even louder, reminiscence less inhibited. Bits of food were trampled like daisies underfoot, and the crunch of plastic cups was proof that the decision not to use wine glasses was certainly prudent. Laughter rose over laughter, exaggerated anecdotes were trumped by those of Munchausenian enormity. And for some classmates there was a growing recollection of aspects of personality in their companions that had been grating even all those years before.