‘I have my honour,’ said Sarah. ‘But I have my life to lead, too, and my own politics to follow.’

Collis stood up and strolled across the room with his hands in his pockets. Mr Figgis clucked loudly at the disturbance, but Collis ignored him.

‘You know something?’ said Collis. ‘When I first saw you at the theatre, arriving in your box with your family, I think I fell in love with you instantly.’

‘Most men do,’ said Sarah, in a matter-of-fact way.

‘Andrew Hunt had told me on the ship from New York that you were incomparably beautiful, but unassailable, too. Nobody could get past your father, he said. Not unless they were a baron, or a prince. Or John Frémont’s father-in-law’s best friend.’

Sarah smiled. In her corsets and her garters, with her big soft breasts pushed together into a tight cleavage, and her long legs revealed in nothing but silk stockings, she looked infinitely desirable to Collis, and even Maria-Mamuska was watching the proceedings with appreciation.

‘Are you still in love with me?’ Sarah asked.

‘Of course,’ said Collis, ‘and I always shall be. But I would rather love you as a friend than as a lover. If I seduced you, if I managed to clamber up to the top of that glass mountain you sit on, I don’t think our association would last longer than a week. I would have conquered that pinnacle that every able-bodied man in San Francisco dreams of, but what would I have to show for it? No — you’ve shown me today that you have intelligence, and wisdom, as well as beauty, and I value those more.’

‘Apart from which, you’re married now,’ said Sarah. ‘And don’t tell me you don’t love your wife madly.’

Collis grinned. ‘Well, there’s that point, too.’

They both started laughing, and Mr Figgis struggled his way out of his cape in annoyance.

‘Do you want these pictures or not?’ he demanded.

Collis put his arm around Mr Figgis’s shoulders. ‘Of course we do, my dear fellow. We promise to be still as statues from now on. Just tell me one thing, Sarah, before you pose again. What are you going to tell your father when you get home?’

He was back at the International Hotel by six. The rain had cleared, and it was a bright, clear evening, with a dazzling sunset over the bald peak of Fern Hill. In their suite, Hannah was dressing for dinner, in the hope that Collis would be back in time. He came in, walked quickly across the room, and kissed her as she sat at her dressing table.

‘How did it go?’ her reflection asked him in the mirror.

He kissed her again. ‘It went completely wrong, but completely right. I shall tell you everything about it over dinner. How do you fancy Delmonico’s?’