She gently stroked the back of his hand, touching the whorls of his knuckles. ‘No,’ she said, and the tear that hovered on her eyelash sparkled like the single diamond in her ring.

‘Did you tell Walter you were leaving for good?’

She nodded. ‘He wouldn’t have accepted my going at all if I hadn’t. He would have told me to hang on, to give him a second chance, to wait and see if my feelings could change.’

She paused, and added, ‘He was very sad. I think he cried more than I did. But he did say that he would try and understand, and that if I really didn’t love him he wouldn’t stand in my way.’

‘He won’t contest a divorce?’

Hannah turned away. Her pale profile was framed by a panel of fluted oak, and she was so still and melancholy that she could have been posing for a portrait of Rapunzel, waiting for her lost prince.

‘Hannah?’ Collis pressed her.

She lowered her eyes. ‘We didn’t discuss a divorce.’

‘Why not? Surely a divorce is the whole heart of the matter.’

‘It’s too early,’ she said. ‘I’ve left him, yes, but I haven’t even unpacked my bag yet. I can’t think of the future until I’ve learned to cope with the present.’

‘I see. So you would rather we lived in sin than cut off your last ties to Walter?’

She lifted her head again. ‘We won’t be living in sin, Collis. Don’t think the idea hasn’t tormented me for hours. But I’ve come to believe that seeking my own happiness, even if it hurts Walter, is not a sin. Being with you makes me happy. I love your energy and I love your determination. And I promise you, my darling, that I will discuss a divorce with Walter, one day soon when the time is right.’

Collis laid down his forkful of shad. He took up his glass of champagne and raised it to her.

‘Well, then,’ he said, ‘here’s to us. Here’s to our folly, and here’s to our future, and here’s to our love.’

Hannah didn’t hesitate. She raised her glass and drank. Then the tears glittered in her eyes again, and she said: ‘Oh, Collis. Don’t fail me. Please don’t fail me.’