‘Mrs Charvet? How can I help you?’

‘I don’t know where to start, Doctor. You see, it’s going to be difficult for you to believe my motive in what I have come to ask.’

‘Oh? Well, we shall see. What is it you have come to ask?’

‘I’m going to be honest with you. Firstly, I am Harold Roford’s mistress. I’m sure the rumours are rife about me being so. Well, they are true. I have been since long before he met Mags – excuse me calling Mrs Roford that, but that is how she was introduced to me. I love Harold. I am in love with him, and he with me.’

‘Yes, I have heard the rumours, but where is all of this leading to? You have no need to confirm or deny such gossip to me. I don’t understand.’

‘I want you to see me as an honest person, with no ulterior motive when I tell you why I am here. You see, I want to help Mags.’

‘What? You’ve admitted to being the mistress of Margaret’s husband, and that means you have already caused her misery. How can you now want to help her?’

‘Guilt, plus the fact that I like, and feel sorry for, Mags. She was just a pawn in the game Harold played, to get everything she would have owned on her father’s death. He didn’t love her; he didn’t even like her, and he talks of her as being a cold fish in bed. I shouldn’t tell you all this, but that’s Harold. Anyway, I’m here now about my husband. You see . . .’

The doctor didn’t interrupt her as Susan told him how she came to be married to Montel, and why. She finished by telling him, ‘I already loved Harold, and I couldn’t have him in any other way than as his lover. Montel understood that, and only loves me as a friend. We have never consummated the marriage, or wish to.’

‘Well, well, I have never heard of anything like this before. You say this is about your husband? I am mystified. Please tell me why you are here.’

After telling the doctor about Montel falling in love with Mags, and how they wanted to help her escape, the doctor was quiet for a long moment.

‘This all sounds preposterous, so much so that it must be true. And I must say, you do come across as an honest young lady, even though I don’t condone the way you have chosen to lead your life. You say that you think Mags was attracted to Montel? I find that bit of your story hard to believe. Mags was smitten with Harold from the first time she met him.’

‘Most women are – he has a magnetism about him. And if he wants something, he uses that. I have already said why he wanted Mags.’

The doctor didn’t give anything away. ‘I am finding this conversation surreal. And my time is valuable. Please get to the point. I have long made up my mind as to Harold’s character. Why are you here?’