‘For God’s sake,’ Max said, when she told him of her plan to visit Joe in Rome, ‘it sounds a bit crazy. How well do you know this man? Are you staying with his people? What does Father say? Does Hermione know you’re just blinding off into the blue?’

‘She thinks it’s a great adventure,’ Cara replied, laughing. ‘She’s all for it. Don’t be so stuffy, Max.’

‘She would be,’ he answered grimly. ‘Look, be sure to take Philip’s address. You know he’s at the Embassy in Rome? He’s First Secretary now. Promise to take his address, Cara. I’ll phone him and tell him you’re going out. I’ll be at sea by then. Look, I wish you’d reconsider this …’

How excited she was to have Joe’s call inviting her to visit him in Rome; how relieved. She’d begun to think that she’d imagined his love for her but the minute she heard his voice, laughing, expostulating, insisting that she should come, all her doubts vanished like smoke. He loved her. He would propose to her and they would be together for ever. She can’t recall the flight, but she can remember how he bundled her into the little Fiat, how they’d driven through the city in the early summer evening. She was expecting to go to his parents’ town house – or even to their villa – but instead he took her to a flat on the top floor of an old house. It was clearly his own pad. They couldn’t wait to make love – she wanted it as much as he did – and only when it was over and she began to talk about the future did she realize that Joe had no thoughts of marriage. In fact he admitted – expecting her to understand – he was already engaged to an Italian girl whose family were wine exporters like his own. Cara was to be his mistress.

Her mind blanks out the scene that followed. She fled to Philip. He listened calmly, asked several questions, and then he went away to telephone the airport and make some other calls. All the while she simply remained in shock, trembling, bursting into tears, until he came back into the room, gave her some brandy and explained he’d arranged a few days’ leave and that they would both be on the next flight home …