He said: ‘Are you staying at Chimbleigh, like Eva?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you must be the American who gave Ruby Carter the money for the dentist.’

‘How on earth do you know about that?’

‘She’s a friend of mine.’

Daisy was surprised. ‘Do many undergraduates befriend housemaids?’

‘My goodness, what a snobbish thing to say! My mother was a housemaid, before she became a Member of Parliament.’

Daisy felt herself blush. She hated snobbery and often accused others of it, especially in Buffalo. She thought she was totally innocent of such unworthy attitudes. ‘I’ve got off on the wrong foot with you, haven’t I?’ she said as the dance came to an end.

‘Not really,’ he said. ‘You think it’s dull to talk about Fascism, yet you take a German refugee into your home and even invite her to travel to England with you. You think housemaids have no right to be friends with undergraduates, yet you pay for Ruby to see the dentist. I don’t suppose I’ll meet another girl half as intriguing as you tonight.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’

‘Here comes your Fascist friend, Boy Fitzherbert. Do you want me to scare him off?’ Daisy sensed that Lloyd would relish the chance of a quarrel with Boy.

‘Certainly not!’ she said, and turned to smile at Boy.

Boy nodded curtly to Lloyd. ‘Evening, Williams.’

‘Good evening,’ said Lloyd. ‘I was disappointed that your Fascists marched along Hills Road last Saturday.’

‘Ah, yes,’ Boy said. ‘They got a bit over-enthusiastic.’

‘It surprised me, when you had given your word that they would not.’ Daisy saw that Lloyd was angry about this, underneath his mask of cool courtesy.

Boy refused to take it seriously. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said lightly. He turned to Daisy. ‘Come and see the library,’ he said to her. ‘It’s by Christopher Wren.’

‘With pleasure!’ Daisy said. She waved goodbye to Lloyd and let Boy take her arm. Lloyd looked disappointed to see her go, which pleased her.

On the west side of the quadrangle a passage led to a courtyard with a single elegant building at the far end. Daisy admired the cloisters on the ground floor. Boy explained that the books were on the upper floor, because the River Cam was liable to flood. ‘Let’s go and look at the river,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty at night.’

Daisy was twenty years old and, though she was inexperienced, she knew that Boy did not really care for gazing on rivers at night. But she wondered, after his reaction to seeing her in men’s clothing, whether he might really prefer boys to girls. She guessed she was about to find out.

‘Do you actually know the King?’ she asked as he led her across a second courtyard.

‘Yes. He’s more my father’s friend, obviously, but he comes to our house sometimes. And he’s jolly keen on some of my political ideas, I can tell you.’

‘I’d love to meet him.’ She was sounding naive, she knew, but this was her chance and she was not going to miss it.