Something else that had looked odd was the way she had been left so conspicuously alone at the games table, which was why she had walked to the windows. At least there she could have her back to everyone and, with feigned interest, look out at the rain-lashed garden.

If she could have summoned the carriage that had brought them from White Lodge, she would have done so, but she and Frank couldn’t leave without their mother, and their mother was with Aunt Alix, discussing Needlework Guild matters. The Guild provided clothing for the poor and was a charity that her mother gave a great deal of time to.

May was just thinking how odd it was that her mother should be so efficient when it came to the charitable work she undertook, given that she was so inefficient in every other area of her life, when she became aware of someone walking up and standing beside her.

She knew, without turning her head, that it was Eddy.

‘I haven’t had a chance to talk with you since you returned from Rome,’ he said in the lazy drawl she found so attractive.

‘Florence.’ Her heart was beating in thick, slamming strokes. ‘A little less than a year ago we returned from Florence, not Rome.’

‘Ah, yes.’ He gave a lopsided smile. Florence accounted for why May had changed so much from how he remembered her. ‘You lived there for ages, didn’t you? I know Maudie missed you terribly.’

‘We were there two years.’ Her hands were clasped so tightly that her nails were digging into her flesh. Please, she prayed silently. Please God, let him say that he missed me too!

He didn’t. Standing so close to her that his shoulder was brushing hers, Eddy said in a friendly manner, ‘It must have been very strange for you, living so long in a country that doesn’t speak English.’

Surprise jolted her out of her almost paralysing shyness. ‘Oh, but lots of the people we mixed with were English expatriates, and from the first day we were there I took Italian lessons. It meant I was soon able to make myself understood and, as well as having English friends, and an American friend, I soon had lots of Italian friends as well.’

‘Good Lord!’ His surprise was genuine. ‘I must say I find that extremely enterprising of you, May. I’ve always been a duffer at languages. Because my mother is Danish, I speak Danish, but I’ve never been able to get the hang of either French or German.’

Although Eddy standing so close to her was still making her heart race, May’s nervous tension had ebbed. ‘That’s because you were only taught French and German by an English teacher, in an English classroom. For me, because I was living in Italy, learning Italian was relatively easy.’