‘And in some ways,’ Leah continued, ‘I quite liked being his “moll”. Of course, all the other girls hated me. There was one, Stacey. She couldn’t stand that I was with Craig. She was a nasty piece of work. Still is. She was always trying to turn Craig against me, but to give him his due he never believed anything she said. I did some stuff I’m not proud of . . .’ Clio watched as Leah’s throat and cheeks reddened and she reached out to take a drink. ‘But in my heart I knew I was running with the wrong crowd. I didn’t belong with them. And so when the law finally caught up with Craig and he got banged up I used it as an excuse to bow out. No one noticed that I’d gone. They were all too busy positioning themselves to take over the little empire he’d left behind. To be honest, I had a narrow escape,’ she finished with a sideways grin and then, as if anxious to change the subject, she added, ‘What on earth are those kids doing?’

They could hear footsteps running and the three voices squealing. They sounded to be having a right royal time.

‘Let’s go and see,’ Clio said, standing up, folding her napkin into neat squares and then rethreading it through the silver napkin ring. ‘Oh, leave that,’ she added as Leah went to stack the dirty plates. ‘Someone will see to them.’

They found the children and Marlon in the ballroom playing a type of hopscotch on the parquet floor, skidding across it in their stockinged feet or on their knees. Noah, whose feet were small enough to fit inside each rectangle, kept accusing the other two of cheating, and Marlon was objecting and suggesting that perhaps they should chop his own feet down to make it fairer, which made Poppy squirm. As he saw them coming into the room Marlon suddenly stood to attention and tried, unsuccessfully, to smooth his curls down with his hands.

‘I’m sorry, ma’am,’ he said. ‘I hope we haven’t disturbed you.’

‘Marlon! Since when have you called me “ma’am”?’ Clio asked, horrified at this formality in case it made Leah think worse of her.

Marlon, his eyes twinkling, pretended to doff his cap and folded from the waist into an extravagant bow that made Noah laugh all over again.

‘Sorry, ma’am,’ he repeated.

Leah was laughing and shaking her head, clearly not falling for the fake lady of the manor routine, and then as Marlon stood back up Clio saw him wink at her and watched as Leah’s cheeks flared a pretty shade of pink. Delighted, Clio had stored that up for later.