‘You must allow for the losses we have to take,’ said Bodo. He was holding a folder stuffed with documents.

‘Minus a few items we reserve for ourselves,’ said Madge. ‘We value our things at a million and a half. I’m bringing it down from two.’ She gripped her arms even more tightly. High up, close to the top of her shoulder, she held a cigarette.

Adletsky said the seller, Heisinger, was giving himself a bonus, getting back what he had conceded in the bargaining. ‘Since Mrs Heisinger has introduced personal considerations as adding value to these chairs and sofas, may I as well say that for me, in my nineties, if I don’t make this purchase I’ll make another one. I’m not of an age to set my heart on a specific acquisition. Dame Siggy and I are okay, perfectly comfortable where we are.’

Madge’s posture was becoming slightly rigid across the shoulders. She backed up her head and made you feel that she was responding to a drop in the temperature of the room. ‘Mrs Adletsky will be happy here,’ she said. ‘You probably could talk her out of it, but she’s already fitting herself into these gorgeous rooms.’

A Mexican couple now entered to serve tea and coffee, silent Indians. The woman wore a hanging braid. The man’s face was wide and brown, coppery, flattened at the top, black cropped hair glittering. He put down the big silver tray, and his wife set out the cups and plates. Madge sent away the servants and did the pouring.

Mrs Adletsky preferred tea.

‘Some of the same for me, please,’ said Amy when Madge turned to her. She held up her cup. Madge turned aside the spout and poured hot tea into Amy’s lap.

‘I’m scalded,’ said Amy loudly. She stood up.

‘Oh, what a clumsy jerk I am,’ said Madge. Stern toward herself, she spoke through her nose as though there were no one else in the room.

Adletsky offered Amy his napkin.

‘Are you burned?’ said Madge.

‘I was better before,’ said Amy. ‘Lucky I’m wearing this thick tweed.’

‘How dumb of me. I should have put in my contacts.’

‘Contacts!’ said Amy later, describing the moment. ‘I could have put both her eyes out then and there.’

‘If there’s any Unguentine in the house, you should put some on,’ said old Dame Siggy.

‘Or aloe vera – even better,’ said Bodo. ‘We keep an aloe plant in the kitchen.’

‘If you’ll direct me to the bathroom,’ said Amy.

‘I’ll take you there myself,’ said Madge. ‘The least I can do.’

As they hurried out, Bodo the happy narcissist watched with benevolence from his hollow face. ‘They say the aloe vera has to be three years old to take the sting out of a burn. A young plant doesn’t do it,’ Bodo explained.

Madge moved quickly, Amy more slowly, fighting her rage and preparing her words … This was no accident. Not a drop of the tea went into the cup. You sure learned a thing or two in the slammer. But you’re back in civilian life, it’s time you realized. We’re not behind bars.