So when Molly rang the doorbell and Pauline opened the door they kissed, twice, French fashion and Pauline said briskly, ‘We’ll have some tea on the lawn, such a lovely day,’ and in a moment they were poised on deckchairs in the sunshine with Earl Grey tea and ginger biscuits. They exchanged pleasantries about the weather, ‘Just a tiny bit cooler today I think,’ the acting world and their colleagues, ‘Have you seen Juliet Lyall in The Seagull?’ ‘Yes, good performance just her part of course, wasn’t so keen on the men in it though. Are you working?’ ‘Oh up for a couple of things you know the way it is.’ All the usual chit-chat that amounted to their world, more or less, both of them tense, neither of them quite able to run down the conversation and leave a pause.

But Molly was thinking Pauline looks terrific. What has happened? and then as they chattered on brightly she thought oh my God I think she’s had a little facelift; Pauly’s had a facelift. Quickly she went on talking.

‘Did Anthony tell you about Nicky Abbott, that she was at the reunion?’

Pauline looked at Molly in surprise. ‘Nicky Abbott? No he didn’t, God where has she been all these years? She disappeared into thin air, what did she look like?’

‘She looked like an old woman.’

‘Nicky Abbott an old woman? What do you mean?’

‘Well, she looked like what all of us would look like if we weren’t actresses I suppose and didn’t dye our hair and wear lots of make-up and have expensive dentistry and take HRT and wear clever clothes.’ She did not like to mention plastic surgery.

‘Did you talk to her?’

‘I didn’t recognise her at first and then I heard her speaking – remember her voice?’

‘Of course.’

‘And then I turned to speak to her and she was – just gone.’

‘How bizarre.’ Pauline sipped at her tea. ‘Whatever happened to her all those years ago do you think? I never knew someone to disappear the way she did, the brightest and the best and that one film, the one that everybody was crazy about – what was it called? Heartbreak. And then phhitt – gone.’

‘Well there she was again on Saturday,’ said Molly.

‘How strange,’ said Pauline.

And at last they sat in silence for a moment.

‘You look so – terrific Pauly,’ said Molly quietly.

‘Thank you,’ said Pauline, putting on some large sunglasses. She said nothing more. The sun sparkled on the river and the silence between the two women lengthened.

‘What do you think I should do about Terence?’ said Molly finally.

‘Like what?’

‘I feel I ought to help him. I’m sure he didn’t do it.’

Pauline regarded Molly from behind the large glasses.