‘And what about you?’ Judith has told Jomier what went wrong with her husband but Jomier has not yet told Judith what went wrong with his wife. He hesitates to do so: Judith is a woman and women stick up for women when it comes to conflicts with men. Did not Judith herself say that she had been unfaithful to Beresford because she wanted to see what it was like to sleep with another man? Was this not Tilly’s justification? ‘Did you really expect me to go through life having only slept with one man?’ Yes. Jomier had expected that or, more foolishly, assumed it. The dual morality. What is sauce for the gander is not sauce for the goose. It was justified by David Hume. How could a man be expected to provide for his children if he had reason to believe that they might not be his? Why should he tend his property into his old age for the progeny of some other man? The fidelity of a wife to her husband and a husband to his wife was part of a personal compact; but the fidelity of the wife had social ramifications. It was the mindset of a different age which Jomier had thought eternal. He had not stopped to think how rapidly contraception and financial independence would lead to the unleashing of the feminine libido.

‘My wife was called Tilly,’ says Jomier.

‘Was?’

‘No. Of course. She’s still called Tilly but she is no longer my wife. She fell in love with another man who was also married so we split up . . .’ Jomier shrugs as if to say: ‘That’s the way of the world.’

‘Ruth says she is very beautiful.’ Judith looks sharply at Jomier as if his reaction to what she says will reveal residual feelings.

‘So people say.’

‘And you?’

‘Clearly I thought so when I married her.’

‘You were in love?’

‘Yes. Yes, I was in love.’

‘And what went wrong?’

‘Much the same scenario as yours, I suppose. Routine, drudgery, lack of sleep, lack of glamour, a stingy husband who takes you for granted . . .’

‘Beresford wasn’t stingy.’

‘I didn’t think that I was stingy – just careful with money.’

‘Which you have to be, if you haven’t got a lot.’

‘That’s what I thought but perhaps, looking back, I should have been more pound wise and penny foolish.’

‘Meaning?’

‘I was always ticking her off for leaving the lights on.’

‘No fancy restaurants?’

‘Or weekends in Paris. No.’

‘No holidays?’

‘Yes, there were holidays. Mostly with friends, particularly Max and Jane. And then it emerged . . .’ Jomier sighs. ‘It emerged that Tilly and Max were having an affair.’

‘They fell in love?’

‘I suppose they did, yes. Though I think at the time . . .’

‘What?’

‘It was more a sexual adventure. A jolly escapade.’

‘What happened?’

‘I found out.’

‘How?’

‘She lost her chequebook. We had a joint account at Hoare’s in Fleet Street . . .’

‘Why Hoare’s?’