‘You know. Her present man. The one who worked for the BBC.’

Jomier does not want to talk about Ruth’s love life. He is also uncomfortable discussing what constitutes being over- or under-sexed. What are a wife’s reasonable expectations? What are a husband’s? What are the reasonable expectations of an older woman with an older lover? Does she have memories of non-stop sex on her last visit to Venice? With Beresford? With Alfredo? Jomier assumes that Judith had been there with Beresford. Judith must realise that he had been there with Tilly. That is only to be expected. It is Alfredo, the Chilean painter, who is beginning to irk Jomier. Was it from him that Judith learned about Titian and Tiepolo?

Judith is telling Jomier how Ralph had come with Ruth on one of her yoga retreats in Andalusia. It had been like having a disruptive pupil in class. He had said that he preferred the exercise regime of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police; and as to the spiritual aspects of yoga, both the Yama and the Niyama were found in all religions, and there was not much to choose between a yogi and a Christian monk. He had skipped the morning sessions to go into Seville to buy the New York Herald Tribune.

Judith’s account of Ralph’s resistance to yogic detachment is amusingly told. She makes it quite clear to Jomier that she takes the mystical dimension of yoga with a pinch of salt. Yet proselytism is not wholly absent. ‘You should try it one day,’ she says to Jomier.

‘To improve my posture?’

‘To achieve detachment.’

‘Some might say that I was already quite detached enough.’

‘It’s a different sort of detachment.’

‘In what way?’

Judith hesitates. ‘Avoiding issues isn’t the same as being detached.’

‘Don’t we all avoid issues?’

‘They fester.’

‘We’ve both avoided talking about our previous visits to Venice.’

‘I don’t mind talking about them.’

‘Were you here with Alfredo?’

‘Alfredo? Good heavens, no. I came here with Beresford, twice, and once with Giles.’

‘Who is Giles?’

‘Someone I went out with.’ Judith is speaking gently, like a nurse with a patient.

‘Before or after Alfredo?’

‘After. Two or three years ago.’

‘And what happened to Giles?’

‘We weren’t really suited. It didn’t last long.’ She leans across and touches Jomier’s hand. ‘At our age one can’t really mind, can one? After all, you must have been here with Tilly.’