Why had they become friends? What was the trade? For Max and Jane, recently relocated from New York, the Jomiers were a couple who knew the ropes in London – who could advise them on where to buy a house, where to shop, where to eat out, where to send their children to school. For Jomier and Tilly, the Stutzels brought a touch of cosmopolitan glamour into their life: Max, a child of globalisation – a home on the shores of Lac Léman, the International School in Geneva, a degree in Economics from Stanford University, an MBA from Harvard Business School; Jane, a stylish East Coast Wasp, raised in Connecticut, a family house on Cape Cod. She was out of an ad in the New Yorker – clipped, slim, casually elegant – a little too tall, perhaps, so those of median height saw more of her nostrils than her nose. She had a degree in English Literature from Radcliffe but, for reasons no doubt rooted in her childhood, lacked confidence in her own opinions. She deferred to Max on the big issues, and relied on Tilly to teach her the subtleties of British upper-middle-class life – to steer her away from the crude esteem for titles and landed estates that is sometimes found in expatriate Americans; to interpret English irony and self-deprecation; to distinguish between the culture of north and west London, and warn her – in the nick of time – against living in Islington. Tilly helped Jane find a house in Kensington and pulled a few strings to get Chuck and Hayden into Norland Place.

The vexed question of what to do with young children at weekends in London brought the Jomiers and the Stutzels together. They would have Sunday lunch in one another’s houses, then take the children to the playground in Kensington Gardens or Holland Park. Or they would go to Ladbroke Square Gardens: Tilly had a key and was a member of the tennis club – both privileges that money could not buy. In summer they would have picnics on the large lawns behind the high railings that kept poor people out, and Max and Tilly would play singles at tennis while Jomier and Jane stayed with the children.

Sometimes, if there was a third party to watch the children, they would play doubles. Jomier disliked ball games and had to be cajoled on to the court to partner Jane. Max was a better player than Jomier. Tilly was a better player than Jane. The balance made for uncertain outcomes when the Jomiers played the Stutzels which in one sense was welcome; but Jomier felt unmanned by his dependence upon Tilly to take the points. Max was competitive: a triumphant gleam came into his eye when he thwacked the tennis ball at Jomier. Jomier understood that testosterone-fuelled competitiveness was a necessary quality for a successful banker, but he did not see why a languid barrister should have to play the same game.