‘I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration.’

He was prickly on the matter of their wealth. When they’d had the kitchen remodelled a year ago, he’d worried about the cost, pointing out to Abi that they could put the girls through college with the money they were proposing to shell out. ‘We can always go to Cash and Carry instead,’ she’d suggested. He’d kept his reservations to himself after that.

Over dinner, Corinne chattered animatedly about her home in France – a medieval house situated at a bend in the river Vienne. Description flowed from her of sun-soaked walls and diving kingfishers, lazy afternoons canoeing down the slow-moving river.

‘It sounds idyllic,’ Abi commented.

‘You must come!’ Corinne said, seizing on the idea. ‘All of you! In the summer!’

‘Well, maybe,’ Abi said, doubtfully.

‘No, really! You must!’

Her vehemence was surprising, the force of her goodwill a little disconcerting. Abi flashed a quick glance at Mark, and then he changed the subject, saying: ‘Where did you learn your English, Corinne?’

They had all noticed the fluency and ease of her speech, even though her words were heavily accented.

‘We spent a couple of years in Canada when I was younger,’ Corinne explained. ‘I went to pre-school there.’

‘How come?’ Mark asked.

She shrugged. ‘My mother liked to travel around.’

‘For work?’

‘Oh no! Val never works. It’s not her thing.’

He raised an eyebrow but let that pass.

‘So why Canada?’ Abi asked. ‘Do you have family there?’

‘No. It’s just somewhere that interested Val at the time. Or maybe she’d met someone from there and got an invitation. I really don’t know.’

She dropped the bread on to her plate and leaned back to admire the view of the garden. Mark noticed the curve of her long, lean neck. The way she spoke of her mother, calling her by her Christian name, jarred with him. She struck him as a child who spent a lot of time in adult company.

‘My sister’s there now,’ she said, brightening as she turned her attention back to the room. ‘She got a place at McGill. She’s studying medicine.’

‘Sounds like a high achiever,’ Mark commented.

‘Oh, Anouk’s really smart. She got a scholarship to McGill. She’s just one of those people – really smart as well as beautiful and talented. Everyone loves Anouk.’ She paused, then her eyes fixed on Eva across the table, and she said: ‘Actually, you remind me of her.’

‘Me?’

Eva, who had barely said a word for the entire meal, looked up, and Mark noticed that as the two girls made eye contact, Corinne’s complexion pinked a little.