He told her briefly about the break-up of his marriage and how he had left London for the island. She listened, and said:

‘You’re very lucky, aren’t you?’

‘Lucky?’

‘You were already in retreat from things. You’d written the world off, hadn’t you, apart from Jane? And you won’t accept that Jane may be dead. So nothing has changed for you, really.’ She saw him smile, and went on: ‘Well, of course, the surroundings have changed. That’s obvious. But in yourself. There’s been no need to readjust.’

Matthew thought about it. ‘In that sense, perhaps not. You think that makes me lucky?’

She hesitated, and said bitterly: ‘The change has to be for the worse. The ugliness all round is bad enough, but the ugliness in oneself is the thing that really disgusts.’