Again Lizzie answered brightly. ‘Old? Not in our class. Everyone’s under thirty-five, as far as I can make out. One or two are eighteen or nineteen. Students. You don’t think eighteen’s old, do you?’

Bruce shrugged. ‘When you see it on television, they’ve all got one foot in the grave,’ he said. ‘Seriously old. But it doesn’t matter. Old people need to do something, I suppose. Keeps them off the streets.’

Bruce laughed, but Lizzie did not join him. ‘Would you like to learn?’ she said. ‘I’d like you to, you know. You need a bridge partner, you see, and since we’re going to get married and everything, I thought it might be nice if we could go to bridge together.’

Bruce looked thoughtful. ‘What’s the big attraction?’ he asked at last.

‘Intellectual,’ said Lizzie. ‘It involves memory and strategy and so on. And there is so much to learn – you could spend a lifetime learning bridge.’

Bruce shrugged. ‘If you’re so keen, I could give it a try.’

They had gone to their first class together that week. The instructor, a Dundonian with a central parting and horn-rimmed spectacles, had welcomed Bruce warmly and had pressed Ron Klinger’s Bridge Guide into his hand. ‘This is the Bible,’ he said. ‘Think of Mr Klinger as Moses and this guide as the Ten Commandments.’ He put on a deep, stentorian voice. ‘Thou shalt not open with less than twelve points,’ he intoned. ‘Thou shalt not communicate with thy partner other than by bidding.’

Bruce stared at him blankly, and the instructor laughed nervously. ‘It’s a useful book,’ he said lamely.

Lizzie dug Bruce in the ribs. ‘Bruce is really looking forward to learning, Arthur,’ she said. ‘Aren’t you, Bruce?’

They went to their table, where Lizzie introduced the other players. ‘This is Carol and this …’ she hesitated very slightly, ‘this is Diane.’

Bruce greeted the two young women. He had never seen Carol, as far as he knew; Diane, for some reason, seemed slightly familiar. Edinburgh was not a large place, of course, and one ran into people here and there.

Diane looked at Bruce and smiled warmly. ‘Lizzie says that she thinks you’ll be really good,’ she said. ‘She said you were good at figures.’

‘Yes,’ said Bruce. ‘I appreciate figures.’

He raised an eyebrow suggestively, and Diane looked away. Carol did not notice. Lizzie was busy shuffling the cards.

‘Right,’ said Diane. ‘This is the way it works. We play four hands to begin with. Then Arthur gives us a talk on some convention or some tactic. That takes about half an hour. Then we play a whole rubber. Then we go to the pub.’

‘Fine,’ said Bruce. ‘Lizzie has explained the basic rules of bidding. I’ll pick up the rest as we go along.’