Those muffled notes on the guitar are now real and clear and continuous.

Fred sets off, with his usual short footsteps, the underwater lights of the swimming pool providing him with some light.

He walks across the deserted lawn and, over the notes of the guitar, he hears the melody of a song coming from the knot of guests.

The song is “Onward”. A wonderful sober example of a modern ballad. Instinctively, Fred draws closer to the music, but keeps to the edge of the knot of people where, guitar held close, Mark Kozelek is playing. There are three women as well as a youth of about twenty and Jimmy Tree. This small relaxed and easy-going gathering is enjoying the Indie American singer’s rendition.

Fred Ballinger stops and stands still a little way away and listens to the beautiful song. Mark Kozelek has noticed him and finds it difficult to hide his emotion at having such an illustrious spectator in his audience. He makes a slight reverential bow with his head during an instrumental break and calls out “Maestro” to Fred.

Fred smiles back.

Jimmy Tree, who is lying on the grass with his eyes closed, opens them and sees Fred. They exchange greetings, then Jimmy beckons to Fred to come closer.

Fred obliges and sits on the edge of a sunbed next to Jimmy who offers him a cup. “I secretly poured a little gin and tonic into the herbal tea. Would you like some, Mr Ballinger?”

“No thanks. I would have preferred a little herbal tea in a gin and tonic.”

They both smile.

Fred takes out a cotton handkerchief, blows his nose quickly, expertly folds the handkerchief and, with a practised gesture performed countless times, wipes it cleanly across his nose four times, before putting it back in his jacket pocket.

Hidden behind his bold smile, Jimmy Tree has observed Fred’s action with the handkerchief. “I was thinking today that you and I have the same problem,” he says.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Having once given in to popular taste, we’re stuck with the reputation for the rest of our lives.”

“Could be. Popularity’s a temptation that’s hard to resist.”

“I’ve worked with the greatest European and American directors, but all the public ever remembers me for is ‘Mr Q’, a dickhead of a metallic robot. On top of that, I had to wear ninety kilos of armour plating. You couldn’t even see my face! Every thirty minutes someone reminds me that I played ‘Mr Q’ and they remind you that you wrote those ‘Simple Songs’. They forget that you composed ‘The Black Prism’, ‘The Life of Hadrian’ and all the rest.”

Fred Ballinger breaks out in a smile and Jimmy too. They have bonded, two subversive partners.

“Pandering to popular taste is a perversion, isn’t it?” Fred says. “Anyway, what are you doing in Europe?”

“I start filming in Germany in a month. I’m getting ready for the part.”

“Is it a popular character?”

“Depends on your point of view.”