‘We’re all here now. We can be off.’

His words emphasized rather than covered the gap; without Patricia’s thin restless figure, her untidy near-auburn hair, they were so obviously not all present. Patrick said nothing, but he looked uncomfortable. It was Diana who said:

‘Are we really going to go without Pat, John? Must we?’

John said: ‘She didn’t apologize. That’s all there is to it.’

Diana looked up towards the window of the bedroom that she and Patricia shared; the eyes of the others followed hers. Patricia was standing looking out of the window. Even from here, outside and below, it was possible to guess her utter misery. She saw them looking up at her, and made no move.

‘She would apologize if you asked her now,’ Diana said. ‘I’m sure she would. She does want to come with us. Could I go back and ask her?’

John said: ‘You heard what I said last night, Di. I told her that unless she apologized inside five minutes she couldn’t come with us to-day. She didn’t, and she can’t. That’s all there is to it.’