Well, after a while I decided that I’d have to devote the whole of the foreseeable future to polishing up the new novel, which I was due to deliver a week on Friday, and making sure it was mega-bestseller quality, then trying to think of a way of getting publicity that wouldn’t cause my arrest on indecency charges, though I did have ages to come up with something before it was scheduled to be published in December.

So I decided to take in Sergei’s flat on the way home, and leave him a note saying I couldn’t see him on Monday due to pressure of work, though actually I secretly hoped he would be there to give me a bit of comfort, despite it being the time when he would normally be overseeing one of his SergeiYoga classes.

But as it turned out, it would have been better if I hadn’t wished that, because when I was at the furthest end of his street I saw this tallish, dark-haired man come out of his front door, and although I couldn’t make out who it was, Sergei followed and kissed him on both cheeks … though he does that to practically everybody so it doesn’t really mean anything; but he doesn’t usually follow it up with a back-thumping embrace.

There was just something about the tableau that made me turn on my heel and head for the nearest tube station. If anything was going on, I simply couldn’t take it just then, and I wasn’t even going to think about it. Anyway, Sergei had never shown any inclinations the other way that I’d noticed.

Of course by the time I got home I realized I was being stupid and over-imaginative due to the shock of Miracle’s bombshell, and I knew that if I casually mentioned Sergei’s visitor to him, he would tell me who it was straight away, all perfectly innocently. Not that Sergei ever looks innocent, because his natural expression can only be described as impertinent, an old-fashioned word, but entirely apt in his case, probably something to do with the winged eyebrows and high cheekbones. Cheeky just isn’t the same at all.

I tried to call him but his phone was out of order, so I phoned Linny instead and she said she’d be delighted to go round with a note for me saying I would be working too hard next week to see him, and I said not to get her hopes up because he was fully occupied, and anyway, did not fancy big bossy cows, and she laughed.