Earlier, when they had all gathered for a drink before dinner, Louisa, not one to suffer from social inhibitions, had made a beeline in his direction as soon as he had appeared, hoping to sit next to him at dinner. The moment she had seen him she had recognised him and remembered vividly the occasion when they had met before . . . what was his name? Christopher something? She had met him with Adam. Adam would know all about him – she must remember to ask him. At the thought of Adam she felt a pang of guilt because she recollected only too well that at their one meeting she had thought this man had all the glamour and edge – a faint but exciting whiff of danger – that Adam lacked. Perhaps the seed of her subsequent restlessness and disenchantment had even been sewn then? With his dark good looks and casual elegance, he stuck out in the present company like a particularly well-manicured thumb, but though he was of a type familiar to Louisa, it struck her that something about him had changed since their last meeting. She thought he now had a closed-in, almost wary, look that sat surprisingly with his otherwise sophisticated appearance.

‘I’m Louisa Forrester,’ she had said. ‘I’m hopeless at remembering names but I think we’ve met before, haven’t we?’

He had agreed immediately, though he looked taken aback at the sight of her.

‘Yes indeed. Of course I remember you too. Did we meet at the opera or something like that? Anyway, what a surprise to see you again here,’ and he smiled politely, though in reality Louisa thought that for a brief moment he had looked more alarmed than pleased and wondered why this should be so. Perhaps he was diffident about his writing ambitions and didn’t want any mutual acquaintances they might share to find out about them – though she didn’t really think he looked the type to lack self-confidence.

‘We’ll no doubt get plenty of chances to talk more later,’ he had said smoothly and turned away from her to continue talking to the ponderous gardening lady to whom he’d been speaking before Louisa approached. Attractive men did not usually respond to Louisa in such an apparently lukewarm way and she was intrigued and challenged. Oh well, his loss, she thought wryly, amused at herself for feeling disappointed at his reaction – and he’s right of course: there’s lots of time to find out more about everyone. She decided that she must ask Giles and Isobel about him, but accepted it cheerfully enough when Isobel had not placed her next to him at dinner but had sat her instead between two women because, as so often happens on mixed courses, the women outnumbered the men.