‘My sister’s picture wasn’t a commission,’ explained Isobel. ‘She’s the beauty of the family and was staying with us when Daniel was painting me and he asked her if she’d sit for him so that he could exhibit it. He didn’t want to sell it originally, but in the end he let her buy it on condition that he could still have it to exhibit. It was a sensation the first time it was shown – and made his name as a portrait painter. Lorna lives in the States, so I imagine it’s hanging in her new husband’s house in Washington now – which should do wonders for Daniel’s career. Lorna is Rory’s mother,’ she added.

‘Well, lucky Rory,’ said Christopher. ‘He’ll no doubt inherit an heirloom one day – but I think your own portrait is even more delightful.’ Privately he thought this was because Isobel was so enchanting herself and the artist had managed to capture her warmth and humour so well that anyone seeing the portrait couldn’t fail to be beguiled by the personality of the sitter. He clearly remembered thinking that, striking though the picture in the exhibition had been, he would not at all like to meet the woman depicted in it, however beautiful she might be. There had been a sense of menace – malice almost – that was disturbing. Christopher, who had been a witness to the little drama in the kitchen triggered by tactless Bunty, decided that there must be complicated relationships and unresolved problems in the Grant family. How deceptive appearances can be, he thought – we are none of us quite what we seem. It gave him courage to make his own admission to the host and hostess whom at first meeting he had envied as a gilded couple with a charmed lifestyle.

‘There’s something you should both know,’ he said. ‘I should have told you at the start of the week – it was very remiss of me. I’ve recently come out of prison, but I’m still on parole. I cleared my trip here with my probation officer before coming – but I should have told you. I’m sorry.’ He added, ‘I don’t think you need worry that I’m any sort of risk to your other guests. I killed someone in a car crash and got the statutory sentence.’

Giles said quickly: ‘Well, thank you for telling us now. You didn’t have to do that – your private life is none of our business.’

Christopher pulled a self-deprecating face. ‘I’m afraid I might not actually have told you,’ he admitted, ‘if Louisa hadn’t recognised me, but we’d met before.’ He looked at Isobel. ‘I believe she’s told you about it?’