‘It’s made from mastic berries,’ she informed them gaily. ‘I’ve just had a seminar from Ariadne on how to use every plant from sage to rosemary and thyme! You’d be amazed at how useful they are.’

‘Sounds like something from Scarborough Fair,’ grinned Nell, picking up the drink to have a sip.

‘Sorry?’ Dora looked mystified.

‘You know – parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme – that’s the chorus to “Scarborough Fair”. I thought you were in the music business. Don’t you know your Simon and Garfunkel?’

‘I have very little to do with the music business, actually,’ Dora bristled.

‘What about that singer . . . what’s her name?’

‘Venus Green,’ supplied Penny surprisingly. ‘My daughter and I were addicted to the show she won. We never missed a single one.’

‘Actually,’ Dora lowered her voice, ‘I wanted to tell you about an amazing experience I’ve just had with Ariadne.’

‘Goodness.’ Penny leaned towards her, all eager retriever.

‘Let’s just get a glass of wine,’ Nell suggested. ‘I’ll listen better then.’ They tried to find the young boy who was serving, but there was no sign of him. In the end Nell went to the reception desk to ask, almost tripping over the long, aristocratic legs of Xan Georgiades.

‘Have you seen the waiter, by any chance?’ Nell asked him, taking in that he was wearing a tweed suit of the type you normally saw only on racecourses in England – except for the cut. His suit managed to look stylish, rather than like something out of P. G. Wodehouse.

‘Sorry, no,’ he replied languidly. ‘I’m trying to get hold of a gin and tonic myself.’

The waiter suddenly emerged, and Xan bowed to let Nell place her order first.

‘A bottle of white wine, please. And three glasses.’ Dora might well feel like one after her Mastiha.

Xan ordered his gin and tonic and followed her out, politely sitting down two tables along from Dora and Penny.

‘Right,’ Nell announced once the wine was poured. ‘We’re sitting comfortably, so why don’t you begin?’

Dora sipped her drink, not noticing the new arrival sitting slightly behind her.

‘I was in this olive grove with Ariadne,’ she began. ‘It’s an amazing place – right on the beach down by Takis’s other bar.’

Almost imperceptibly, Xan’s back stiffened, and he leaned subtly towards them.

‘Ariadne’s often down there. She’s an amateur botanist, always collecting herbs and berries and things. It was her who recommended this stuff.’ Dora raised her glass of transparent liquid. ‘It’s actually made from resin.’

‘You were going to tell us what happened when you were down there.’

‘Right.’ Dora banged down her glass with a slight flounce at being interrupted. ‘Ariadne says the grove is sacred to the goddess . . .’

‘Which goddess is that? There seem to be an awful lot.’ Nell tried not to giggle. Dora seemed so serious.

‘Aphrodite . . . or Venus to the Romans.’