‘It’s all an act… I don’t feel like playing canasta tonight. I suppose we could do the Times crossword. Or we could have an early night and read in bed… Oh, I hate it when I am indecisive! Don’t you hate me when I am indecisive?’

‘I love you in any and every state you happen to be in.’ Payne kissed her.

‘No – we must go. We’ve got the flowers and everything. Of course we’ll go. It’s only down the road anyway.’

‘Where did you say you and Melisande Chevret met? At the local Women’s Institute?’

‘At Wild Oats. We keep bumping into each other. Whenever I go in, she is there, or if I am already there, she suddenly makes an entrance. She is the kind that makes an entrance, yes. She is very dramatic. I must say she is always extremely charming to me.’

‘Perhaps she’s managed to engineer these meetings somehow? Perhaps it’s all leading up to something? Perhaps tonight is the night?’

‘The night for what?’

‘Some hair-raising outrage. Kinder sacrifice? Soul-bartering? Incidentally, what is wild oats in this particular context – not what young men sow?’

‘The local organic shop. You know that perfectly well.’ Antonia gave him a sideways glance. ‘I hope you won’t be saying silly things when we get there. Please. Don’t show off. Especially not in front of Melisande Chevret. Please.’

‘I am not entirely familiar with the local topography,’ Payne protested. ‘I don’t go shopping as often as you do.’

‘Perhaps you should.’ Antonia draped a scarf round her neck and patted her hair. ‘Melisande Chevret enjoys attention. The man who owns Wild Oats treats her like royalty. He is always dancing and bowing and scraping and tugging at his forelock when she is around. I think she likes that.’

‘It seems to be our lot, meeting people who are in the middle of some impossible drama, or else on the brink of perpetrating some terrible thing, have you noticed?’ Payne stroked his chin with his forefinger. ‘Or who are in some way desperate.’