‘Listening to this makes me feel like I’m riding on a train, or some kind of gigantic industrial machine and I can’t get off,’ observed Olivia.

‘The piano part is extremely challenging,’ said Stephen. ‘No wonder the poor chap was nervous.’

Ginie was mortified that no one had said anything about her mistake. She could imagine the phone call in the morning between Violet and Olivia. They would have a wonderful time laying bare her ignorance about music. The dinner had not been the success she’d hoped for. She could feel the spectre of her mother, mocking her.

Everything turns to dust in your hands, doesn’t it? I always knew you were worthless.

10 Ginie, Italy, 1910s

10

Ginie, Italy, 1910s

Ginie and Paulo honeymooned in Egypt, floating down the Nile in a barge and riding camels into the desert to see the Pyramids. They were woken at five by the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, made love and lay naked in the sun on the balcony of their hotel room until their skins were tanned a rich brown. They gambled and lost at Baccarat, took hundreds of photographs, shopped for books, brass statuettes, fabrics, carpets, Turkish coffee cups and a platinum ring engraved with roses.

They felt adventurous and free and full of hope for the future. But as soon as they got back to Liguria, Ugo set Paulo to work on family affairs, mainly running a group of landed properties in Ovadese. Ugo devised one small, unimportant task after another and made sure Paulo carried them out, while at the same time maintaining complete control of the assets. Ginie saw at once that it was a way of keeping Paulo fettered. His unquestioning obedience to his father dismayed her. Evidently he had managed to move far enough away from his privileged world to marry her, but not far enough to strike out on his own. Perhaps the effort it had taken to weather his parents’ disapproval had used up all his energy. In her mind, she called up the Paulo she had met: handsome and independent-minded, seeming to understand her, to share the same goals. Surely that was the real Paulo? She needed a stronger man and was waiting for the person she had fallen in love with to assert himself.

‘Do you really have to go to Ovadese every time your Papa says so?’ she asked one morning, as she watched him getting ready. They were living in the same villa the Peiranos had rented – Riccardo and Rosa had moved to a large house in Santa Margherita. Paulo was working lotion into his hair; he turned from the mirror to face Ginie lounging in bed.

‘Papa pays me for it,’ he said. ‘Let’s just be happy with what we’ve got, alright? Unless you’d rather make do without the money.’