MERLIN SHERWOOD: Randy's younger brother, another Adonis, playing for South Sussex.
MRS SHERWOOD: Their glamorous mother.
ANGEL SOLIS DE GONZALES: An Argentine polo player and Falklands war pilot, whose brother Pedro was shot down and killed.
BETTY SOLIS DE GONZALES: Angel's aunt.
UMBERTO: Alejandro's groom.
HELMET WALLSTEIN: Chief Executive, Euro-Electronics.
GISELA WALLSTEIN: His wife.
SIR DAVID WATERLANE, BART: Owner of Rutminster Hall, patron of Rutshire Hall polo team.
CLEMENCY WATERLANE: His wandering wife.
MIKE WATERLANE: His son, also a polo player.
WENDY: Hamish Macleod's PA.
1
Queen Augusta’s Boarding School for Girls has a splendid academic reputation, but on a sweltering afternoon in June one of its pupils was not paying attention to her English exam. While her classmates scribbled away, Perdita Macleod was drawing a polo pony. Outside, the scent of honeysuckle drifted in through the french windows, the cuckoo called from an acid-green poplar copse at the end of the lawn. Perdita, gazing out, thought longingly of the big tournament at Rutshire Polo Club where the semi-finals of the Rutshire Cup were being played. All her heroes were taking part: Ricky France-Lynch, Drew Benedict, Seb and Dommie Carlisle, the mighty Argentines, Miguel and Juan O’Brien, and, to crown it, the Prince of Wales.
Fretfully, Perdita glanced at her exam paper which began with a poem by Newbolt:
‘And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,’ she read,
‘Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,