‘I’m not defending them exactly. It’s just when I was your age, that kind of thing was an accepted social norm, so it doesn’t seem right to punish them all this time later for something that was so common.’

‘But just because it was common doesn’t make it right,’ Pip replied emphatically. She looked quite angry now so it was hard for Evelyn to keep in mind that it wasn’t her Pip was cross with. ‘What that man, Rory MacMillan, did to you, was sexual harassment at best. You can report him to the police, bring a claim against him. I bet you’re not the only one. Men like him are sexual predators who deserve to be exposed. We could go to the police here in town. I can help you if you like. I could represent you, even.’

It was difficult to take in everything Pip was saying, but one thing was clear in Evelyn’s bombarded mind.

‘I shan’t be bringing any claim against anyone,’ she said firmly.

‘But . . .’ began Pip.

‘It was all a very long time ago, a different world. Life danced to a different tune. And what possible purpose could it serve, raking it all up now?’

‘He abused his position, he made you pregnant so that you lost your job, he took advantage of you when the balance of power was skewed.’

‘But I could have left,’ replied Evelyn. ‘At any point I could have picked up my things and gone.’

‘But you didn’t, because you wanted what he was holding over you like a carrot. You wanted the part.’

‘I did. But who’s to say I wouldn’t have got it anyway? We will never know.’

Pip was getting more and more agitated. ‘But can’t you see that . . .’

‘No,’ said Evelyn decisively. ‘What I see is that from some random encounter in a hotel I was given the most wonderful, most beautiful, most precious gift of my life. And that is all that matters.’

Finally, Pip seemed to accept her point of view, and snapped her mouth closed before anything else could leak out. ‘Okay,’ she said quietly.

Evelyn was right about this, no matter what Pip said. It was in the past and best left well alone.

But later that evening, after Pip had helped her fill a few more bin liners and then said goodbye and gone home, Evelyn had searched the internet. Pip was right. Stories highlighting the abuse of young impressionable women by men in positions of authority were everywhere. Men had been prosecuted, men that she could hardly believe would be capable of such horrifying acts. Men who had been part of the fabric of society, who you thought you knew simply by virtue of the fact they were on your television set in the corner of your lounge. How wrong everyone had been.