‘We,’ corrected Matthew. ‘My money is your money, remember. What did I say: with my worldly goods I thee endow.’

They had been married in the Church of Scotland, but the minister had agreed to the use of parts of the liturgy of the Scottish Book of Common Prayer, which Matthew liked for its richness of language. ‘Computers can marry one another according to the modern wording,’ he had said. ‘But not me. I want “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together” … and words like that.’

Elspeth looked at him. ‘Our money then,’ she said. ‘How much did we offer of our money?’

‘Nine hundred and seventy-five thousand,’ said Matthew. ‘I discussed it with the solicitor. She looked up some recent transactions and said that this should be an attractive figure, even if another flat in Moray Place went for one million three hundred thousand pounds recently. But that was bigger, having both the ground floor and the drawing-room floor.’

Elspeth was silent. For a moment it occurred to Matthew that she might faint again. What happened if they both fainted at the same time? Who would be left to revive whom?

‘Nine hundred …’ she began weakly, and then trailed off.

Matthew tried to sound businesslike. ‘Yes. If you put in one of these timed offers, then you really have to take their socks off.’

‘Knock their socks off,’ corrected Elspeth. ‘You don’t take somebody else’s socks off – you knock them off.’

Matthew frowned. ‘But how? How can you knock socks off? You have to peel socks.’

Elspeth did not think it really mattered. ‘Metaphors don’t always mean what they say,’ she said. ‘That’s the point of metaphors.’

‘Well, we put in the offer and …’ Matthew looked at his watch. ‘And we should know quite soon.’

Elspeth winced. ‘When do we have to pay?’

‘When we get entry,’ said Matthew. ‘I think that this should be soon enough – there’s nobody living in the flat at the moment. All we have to do is to move our stuff out.’

‘And sell this place,’ said Elspeth.

‘I know somebody in Rettie’s,’ said Matthew. ‘They’ll do it.’

‘And what if we have to pay for Moray Place before we sell India Street?’ asked Elspeth. ‘Will we need a bridging loan of a million pounds?’

‘I can do that,’ said Matthew. ‘Remember, my father gave me over four million pounds.’

‘But isn’t that in shares?’ asked Elspeth. ‘This would have to be cash.’

Matthew shrugged. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said.

Twenty minutes later the telephone rang. As he picked it up, Matthew felt his heart beating more quickly. He closed his eyes. Had he done the right thing?