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remember me. We used to go out together occasionally, but of course it’s years ago. And to think he’s Brian Singleton’s brother. I wonder why Brian’s never mentioned him. Could it be jealousy, d’you think?’
    ‘I suppose it isn’t impossible,’ Ian said, ‘though it might be a kind of modesty. I think that’s more likely. Brian isn’t the kind who goes in for name-dropping.’
    ‘This Brian Singleton,’ Andrew said, ‘he’s a friend of yours, is he?’
    ‘Yes, and quite a near neighbour,’ Ian replied. ‘He lives in a bungalow a little way down the road. But he works in Rockford. He’s a biochemist with a post of some sort in the Rockford Agricultural Institute. You’ll meet him at our party tomorrow. You’ll probably find him interesting.’
    ‘Will Luke Singleton be coming too?’ Eleanor asked eagerly.
    ‘No, he won’t have come down to Lower Milfrey by tomorrow. But I’m sure he’ll be at the Parson Woodforde dinner. In fact, I think Brian told me he would be.’
    ‘Oh, I do hope the Waldrons invite me to it,’ Eleanor said. ‘If they don’t think of it themselves, perhaps you or Mollie could drop them a gentle hint that they should. Of course it’s very ill-bred of me to suggest it, but I should so love to meet Luke again, and perhaps get him to let me do a portrait of him. Which reminds me, Professor, we haven’t actually fixed the time you’re coming along to me. How about tomorrow morning, say about eleven o’clock?’
    ‘If you really think it’s worth your while,’ Andrew said reluctantly. He had not really been aware that he had committed himself so definitely.
    ‘Thank you, thank you! Now I must be going.’ She sprang up from her chair. ‘I hope you enjoy the chutney, Mollie, and I’ll bring you some of my raspberry jam.’
    She strode from the room.
    As Ian went after her to see her out, Mollie said, ‘That was very nice of you, Andrew, to agree to go; I know you’ll hate it, though some of those old photographs she’s got are really very interesting. The truth about her is, of course, that she’s really pretty lonely, so she makes a rather heavy-handed grab at anyone she meets. And the real reason why Brian hasn’t mentioned his famous brother to her is simply that he himself can’t stand her and doesn’t want her tryingto use him to renew the acquaintance—if there ever was an acquaintance. You can’t be absolutely sure with Eleanor that everything she tells you is true.’
    ‘Yet you seem to be good friends with her,’ Andrew said.
    ‘Well, when you live in a place like this you’ve got to put up with what you find,’ Mollie said. ‘Of course, Lower Milfrey isn’t a village any more, with a real life of its own. It’s a suburb of Rockford. Nearly everyone we know either lives in Rockford, or works there, like Brian. There’s a very nice doctor we know. Felicity Mace—you’ll meet her tomorrow evening—who lives here, but who belongs to a group practice in Rockford and only runs a surgery twice a week in the village. And we’ve another friend, Ernest Audley, who’s a solicitor in Rockford. And so on. The Waldrons, of course, really belong here, and I think he’d like to think of himself as the squire, but they bought the old manor house only about six years ago and they spend a good deal of their time travelling about. As I said, they’re just back from Scotland. All the same, I love it here. I feel it’s the first real home I’ve had. That flat in Holland Park always had a temporary sort of feeling about it, but I can almost persuade myself sometimes that I’ve lived here all my life.’
    Ian had come back into the room and wanted more tea. Mollie refilled their three cups and Andrew asked whether the Waldrons’ dinner-party would involve dressing, because it had not occurred to him to bring a dinner-jacket.
    ‘No, though perhaps a wig and an embroidered waistcoat might have helped,’ Ian said. ‘Sam would love to achieve a true