He slid from the bed and went out on to the balcony, leaning his back against the folded shutters, looking down the path of the moon across the water. Orion’s belt tilted above the hills.

That’s how we got here. Ask no questions, you’ll hear no lies; what the eye doesn’t see the heart won’t grieve over. Like Aesthetic Art Models and me strutting my stuff for a bunch of tired old closet poufs, and Leni dancing about in her gym-slips and knickers at twenty quid a set of six. Christ Almighty! There has to be something better than that. A couple of tacky little cock-teasers: that’s us. But I don’t think it shows, we’re behaving all right, all the social graces. So far. And Leni! Dead cool. She was amazing at dinner tonight, really amazing, carrying on as if she had done that kind of thing all her life. Asparagus tongs! Well: I didn’t know what the hell they were for, she did. And all that fiddling about with the fish things; didn’t turn a hair, to the manner born, extraordinary. You’d never guess she’d just picked it all up from a few suppers with her geriatric ‘fans’ at the Inn on the Park. I think we passed muster, but we won’t push our luck, a day more, if we’re asked, and then clear off, otherwise I’ll really be corrupted.

He pulled the shutters together carefully and felt his way across the dim room to bed. A magic day. Really magic. The Peverills. Funny pair, pretty deep, pretty odd; they’ve got their own problems, that’s for sure, something’s rumbling about, but you never know about people, do you? Can’t really tell. And he said, not everyone born in a stable is a horse. He switched off the transistor.

And that’s a fact.

Chapter Five

The ‘day or two’ for which Leni had stipulated that they should remain, and to which Marcus had readily agreed, extended gently into three or four and then she very soon discovered, like Millament before her, that she had allowed herself to be ‘dwindled’ into remaining at the villa for the duration of their holiday. It was almost inevitable, because Cuckoo had taken the greatest pains, from the first moment of their arrival, to make it perfectly clear that they were free to use the house as an hotel, that they could come and go as they chose, that they must have no feelings of obligation or gratitude, must go out and discover the joys and horrors of the Coast for themselves and only give, if possible, advance warning about which meal they would be there to enjoy, for the sake of Bruna who must cook it. Beyond that, and the fact that they must under no circumstances ‘fuss’ Archie while he was working, there were to be no rules, utter freedom; otherwise she knew that she would lose them, and that was the very last thing she wanted. Their presence in the house, even after only twenty-four hours, quite enchanted her: their life, laughter, and dazzled delight in everything which they ate, saw, touched or drank filled her with tremendous pleasure and the villa with vibrancy and light. It was as if shutters had been thrown open and awnings raised. She needed them desperately, and to that end worked with the greatest tact and wisdom to keep them there.