Molly took a deep breath. ‘Listen to me Pauly, listen, Terence and I were at a sort of cocktail party gala at the Ritz a few weeks ago, for World Hunger – I know, at the Ritz, isn’t it silly,’ as Pauline snorted, ‘but it raises millions apparently. Anyway, Terence gave a speech, I had to give some awards, it was supposed to be Princess Alexandra but she was ill, I got roped in somehow at the last minute, horrible it was, people kept saying, You’re a soap star; where’s the princess? Anyway, Terence and I escaped and went and had dinner; we’d worked together on a film last year and we were reminiscing about that and drinking rather heavily, especially Terence, and Banjo was away with his band so it turned into rather a long evening. In the end I offered to drive him home, he wasn’t in any fit state to drive his car, and he’s not supposed to drive, he’s been banned – anyway I parked the car outside his house and just as I handed him the keys he – well I suddenly saw that he was...’ Molly paused for a moment. ‘I know this sounds ridiculous but he was crying.’

‘Terence cried?’

‘I know I know, but he did, and he asked me to come in with him, into his house, he’s got a beautiful house in Hampstead—’

‘Yes, we went there a lot when he was married to Elvira, she’s Benedict’s godmother of course—’

‘Well I went in and — God it was ridiculous – he didn’t start kissing me or anything but he – he put his arms around me and – kind of leant on me and I – God I was stupid, how could I have been so crass – I misunderstood and I said, “Oh come on Terence we’ve done all this in my boarding house remember? We’ve known each other too long to do this and I love my young man.” Or I said something like that and then he said, “No, no, I wasn’t meaning that,” and it sort of came out that he’d really just been wanting a cuddle and – that he was – well, that he was –’ and Molly looked embarrassed as she said the word rather quietly ‘– impotent.’

Pauline inadvertently let out an unbelieving hoot of laughter, quite unlike her. ‘Sorry,’ she said spilling some of her tea on the lawn, ‘it’s just so – unlikely. Terence?!!!!’

‘I know, I know.’

‘You didn’t believe him?’

‘But I did.’

‘But we all know what he was like, he can’t have lost it, he was part of our learning experience.’ And Pauline, recovering, shook her head in a kind of amused disbelief, leant back in the deckchair in the sunshine. Neither of them spoke for a moment.