‘Oh well.’ Bunty was blissfully unaware that a chasm had just opened at her feet. ‘That’s even more remarkable then – but I suppose uncles and nephews can be just as alike as fathers and sons, can’t they? After all, it’s the same pool of genes, isn’t it?’

‘Rory is my sister’s little boy.’

Isobel’s words came out with a ringing clarity that might have won her a prize at a competition for elocution and even Bunty couldn’t fail to notice the look on her face. Louisa felt her heart thudding in her chest, all sorts of uncomfortable scenarios suddenly opening up in her imagination and old gossip about Isobel’s sister Lorna racing through her memory. She longed for the right words to switch the moment off, but it was Catherine who saved the day.

She banged loudly on her teacup with a spoon, though there was hardly a need to call for silence. ‘I’m sorry to hurry you all,’ she said briskly, ‘but it’s after five, and we have work to do. Could you all please make your way across to the conference room as quickly as you can? We need to get started.’

Then, feeling like a schoolmarm again, she shepherded her nine adult pupils out through the French window and across the courtyard to the conference room, leaving Isobel, Giles and Isobel’s small nephew alone in the kitchen.

‘Rory,’ said Isobel, putting the little boy gently off her knee, ‘why don’t you run and find Sheena and ask her if you can have your bath now and then you can have your tea in the nursery and look at a video.’

She waited till the kitchen door closed and then turned on her husband. ‘Oh, Giles,’ she said. ‘Oh, Giles, I can’t stand this! What are we to do? This is the third time in a month it’s happened. And you promised me – you’ve always sworn it wasn’t so . . .’

‘No,’ said Giles, ‘no, Izzy. I told you what Lorna told me when he was born.’

He came towards her and tried to take her in his arms but she shook him off and busied herself ostentatiously clearing the table, violently wiping the surface as if she was trying to scrub out Bunty’s words.

‘Look,’ he said. ‘We have to face the fact that we’ve both always known this was on the cards.’ He added bitterly: ‘It’s obviously suited Lorna to play cat and mouse over it but it’s suited us to accept her word, though with her record we should never have let ourselves be taken in.’ He punched the palm of his left hand with his right fist. ‘One single, stupid, much regretted night with your bloody sister and . . .’

‘Well don’t expect me to be sympathetic.’ Isobel banged a cupboard door shut with such ferocity it was amazing all the china inside didn’t shatter.