She put on her grey skirt, noticing it no longer hung loosely off her waist, her pale pink top, her stud earrings. Then she brushed her hair and slipped her feet into sandals. She could only see her face in the small mirror, but she felt that she looked like a Victorian governess. She took a scarlet flower from the vase on the window sill and snapped its stalk, then tucked it into the top of her shirt.

She looked out into the garden. The three men and Mary were playing boules and Lorrie and Katherine were sitting in the shade of the walnut tree looking at a picture book together; Katherine was wearing a stinging pink dress with a stiff wide skirt that made her look like an overcooked meringue. Jem, in his dark suit, his hair damped down, was walking up and down the grass with his mother, who was clinging to his arm to steady herself in her stiletto heels.

‘I look like a fat middle-aged Irish peasant,’ said Juliet. She stared disconsolately at herself in the mirror, sucking in her stomach and pulling back her shoulders.

‘Rubbish.’

‘I should never have bought this dress. It’s not the kind of thing I ever wear. Look at me.’

‘You look lovely.’

‘No. I look like a dowdy executive. I wanted everything to be perfect.’

She picked up a brush and started to drag it through her tangled hair, then threw it down on the bed.

‘It’s no good,’ she said. Her face was heavy and flushed. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Nothing’s any good.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Maybe he’s just sorry for me.’

‘How can you begin to think something so –’

‘I’m nearly seven years older than him and I’ve had a lump in my breast cut out and maybe I’ll never be able to have kids and I know he wants to be a father some day. I don’t want to be a burden.’

‘If ever a man was in love, Jem is. He can hardly believe his luck. It’s because of you he’s happy.’

‘Really?’

‘Really.’

‘You’re not just saying it?’

‘Listen to me.’ Irene gripped Juliet by her shoulders. ‘Ever since I met him, when he was eighteen and just out of school, I’ve been worried about Jem because he never seemed to belong anywhere. Everyone liked him, but he was an outsider. You know. Then he met you and he changed. He’s OK now. You did that.’

‘I did that?’

‘You know you did.’

Juliet sniffed. ‘Sorry to be stupid.’

‘Here.’ Irene picked up the brush. ‘This is one thing I am good at. Ask Aggie.’

Juliet sat for a while, letting Irene brush her hair and staring at herself in the mirror.

‘I want to wear something different,’ she said at last, as Irene twisted her hair up and fastened it behind her head.

‘What? Now, you mean?’