“Some people would call you lucky,” Pat observed.

“Yes,” Jimmy said. “I am lucky. Jolly lucky. Fen’s a very nice girl, and I dare say it’s about time I was married. Let’s not bore on about me.”

“All right then.” Pat watched the heat haze over the grass as they walked, the great sweep of the land. “What about Miss Singh?”

“What about her?”

“Only that she doesn’t seem entirely the right fit for a shooting party. Very pleasant, but, well—a vegetarian?”

“Oh, Victoria’s not one of those cranks. She’s Mother’s goddaughter, you know. She came up for a week’s stay, and then asked if it would be possible to extend her visit for another week—I believe she was going on to people who found they had scarlet fever in the house, though frankly if I were her I should have risked the contagion rather than Maurice. He’s a racialist, of course. She knew what she was letting herself in for, but I cannot imagine why she would.”

“I expect she knows what she’s about. She seemed a very intelligent woman to me.”

“I thought you’d like her,” Jimmy said. “She’s serious, but I don’t see why women shouldn’t be serious. It’s all very well to talk nonsense and do nothing all day, constantly dressing for breakfast and lunch and afternoon tea and dinner and going out and meeting people in order to talk about other people one met yesterday, but what is the point? Why do women want to waste their time on that? Are you really going to teach Fen to use a gun?”

“If she wants me to.”

“I wish you would. I dare say it might take some time, if you don’t mind that. You’ll have to be awfully patient, I warn you. She’s not the, uh, the brightest—she’s not like you, old thing. Not competent.”

“Perhaps not, but men don’t tend to marry for competence, do they?”

She meant it lightly, but Jimmy pulled a face. “I don’t know why not. It’s all very well being bubbly and charming in drawing rooms but unless one has the wherewithal to live without shouldering responsibilities—”

“Now hold on,” Pat said, suddenly roused on Miss Carruth’s behalf. “If a woman is brought up to do nothing except get married and mix in society, it’s hardly fair to blame her for carrying out the job she was given. If you didn’t want that sort of woman you shouldn’t have proposed to one, and having done so, it’s hardly fair to criticise her for it.”

Jimmy’s mouth dropped open. “How—that is, I’m not doing that. I don’t blame her. I just— Well, it would be a lot easier if about half the people at this accursed party weren’t here, that’s all.”

“I dare say.”