Sunday didn’t even bother to comment. Cissie was clearly very against the king seeing his lady friend and she knew there was nothing she could say that would make her change her mind.

It was almost a week later before David could accept Sunday’s invitation and he turned up shortly before the Locketts, bearing a bottle of very good wine and looking neat as a new pin and very handsome.

‘My contribution to the evening,’ he told Sunday as he gave her an affectionate peck on the cheek. But his gaze was on Kathy who had just appeared on the stairs and Sunday noticed how his eyes lit up. She watched closely for Kathy’s reaction but was disappointed to see that she greeted him no differently to any other visitor.

Delicious smells were issuing from the kitchen as Sunday ushered the two young people into the day room while she hurried away to help Cissie put the finishing touches to the meal. They had decided to do a straightforward roast dinner. Cissie was the first to admit that she wasn’t any good at what she termed ‘fancy cooking’ and Sunday smiled as she entered the kitchen. The vegetables were cooking on the range and Cissie was just removing a sizzling joint of roast beef from the oven.

‘You might not like to do anything fancy, but you can certainly do a wonderful roast,’ she praised and Cissie’s chest puffed with pride.

Once Verity and Edgar had arrived and joined David and Kathy in the day room, Sunday went down to the cellar to fetch some more wine. She would only need one bottle as Livvy was out with friends and Ben had declined the invitation to join them. It had been a long time since she had ventured down there but Tom had always kept it well stocked, so she was surprised to see that most of the wine racks were now empty. Ben was in charge of ordering whatever they needed, but they didn’t drink much anymore, so she couldn’t imagine where it could have gone. She selected a bottle from what was there and, pushing this puzzle to the back of her mind, went back upstairs.

They had a very enjoyable evening and once they had finished, Kathy left the room to show David – who was on call early the next morning – out.

‘What a lovely young man,’ Verity commented. ‘And he’s clearly very smitten with your Kathy. Do you think we might be hearing wedding bells soon?’

Sunday sighed. ‘I certainly think we could if it were up to David but I’m not so sure about Kathy,’ she admitted. ‘The poor chap has made it more than clear how he feels about her and he’s a regular visitor here, but Kathy doesn’t seem to want their relationship to go beyond friendship.’

‘Ah well, friendship is a good start.’ Ever the matchmaker, Verity grinned.