(Of course I remember, she thought looking at her husband, that’s where you first made love to me and I wouldn’t let you go all the way because I was still a virgin and I was scared of getting pregnant and somehow I still thought love and sex and marriage went together and you went stalking back to the film star’s daughter and didn’t pay me any attention again until I was the Most Promising Newcomer.)

‘Yes I remember,’ she said, ‘Arms and the Man in Edinburgh. And Juliet came to keep an eye on Terence, because she was so crazy about him. And that film star’s daughter you were having an affair with came to keep an eye on you hoping you would announce your engagement soon – what was her name?’

‘You know perfectly well that it was Lavender,’ said Anthony so morosely that they both laughed.

‘Oh Nicky was a wonderful actress.’ Pauline leant back in the sofa. ‘What can have happened all these years ago? And then to come to the reunion, and then to stab Terence a few weeks later, it’s absolutely bizarre.’

‘What more do they say in the papers? I didn’t see one today. I played squash with Othello and then we had two performances of Hamlet.’

‘You’ll have a heart attack,’ said Pauline mildly. ‘They just say that Nicola Abbott – there’s no recent pictures of her, just pictures from this film all over the newspapers, the BBC mustn’t have been able to believe their luck with this scheduling – they just say she’s under medical care and no statement is to be released in the meantime. They keep saying Terence is very serious but stable, do you suppose that stable is good news? They didn’t use that word yesterday.’

Anthony shrugged. ‘The papers I read yesterday said it is assumed he raped Nicky too, or tried to.’ Anthony got up for another drink.

‘Oh God aren’t they disgusting, it’s all speculation,’ said Pauline. ‘Terence loves women, women always fell into his arms.’

‘Including you if I remember rightly,’ said Anthony quite crossly.

‘He only kissed me,’ said Pauline soothingly. ‘A long long time ago. Anyway nobody knows anything really, poor Terence I hope he pulls through. He hasn’t been accused of rape again, except by the press.’

And then, very carefully, she added, ‘Anyway Molly says he couldn’t have.’

Anthony, pouring whisky, had his back to his wife, stood very still. He didn’t look round. ‘When did Molly say that?’

Pauline turned her head then, looked along the sofa, saw that Anthony stood very tense by the drinks cupboard. ‘Oh she came round,’ she said.

‘Came round? Here? When?’ Did Pauline know that Molly was coming to Stratford next week?

‘Oh – when the rape happened, before the garden party.’

He busied himself with ice. ‘You didn’t tell me. You want another of those ridiculous Camparis?’