Anna had been examining the secretary while she was waiting; and had noted that she was in type similar to Marion: another nut-brown maid, tending to a glossy and lively untidiness. She took care to watch how Richard and this girl behaved together in the few seconds it took to usher in herself, caught a glance between them, and understood they were having an affair. Richard saw that Anna had come to conclusions, and said: ‘I don’t want any of your lectures, Anna. I want to talk seriously.’

‘But that’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?’

He was suppressing annoyance. Anna refused the seat opposite his desk which he offered her, and sat on a window-ledge some distance from him. Before he could speak, a green light went up on the panel of his office telephone, and he excused himself to speak into it. ‘Excuse me a moment,’ he said again; and an inner door opened and a young man came in with a file, which he laid in the most unobtrusively charming manner possible on the marbled stone before Richard, almost bowing, before almost tiptoeing out again.

Richard hastily laid open the file, made a pencil note, was about to press another button, when he saw Anna’s face and said: ‘Anything especially funny?’

‘Not especially. I remember someone saying that the importance of any public man can be gauged by the number of mellifluous young men he has about him.’

‘Molly, I suppose.’

‘Well yes, actually. How many do you have, as a matter of interest?’

‘A couple of dozen, I suppose.’

‘The Prime Minister couldn’t say as much.’

‘I daresay not. Anna, do you have to?’

‘I was just making conversation.’

‘In that case I’ll save you the trouble. It’s about Marion. Did you know she was spending all her time with Tommy?’

‘Molly told me. She also told me she had stopped drinking.’

‘She comes into town every morning. She buys all the newspapers, and spends the time reading them to Tommy. She gets back home at seven or eight. All she can talk about is Tommy and politics.’

‘She’s stopped drinking,’ Anna said again.

‘And what about her children? She sees them at breakfast, and if they’re lucky for an hour in the evening. I don’t suppose she even remembers they exist, half the time.’

‘I think you should employ someone for the time being.’

‘Look, Anna, I asked you here to discuss it seriously.’

‘I am serious. I suggest you employ some nice sort of woman to be with the boys until — things sort themselves out.’

‘My God, what’s that going to cost …’ But here Richard stopped himself, frowning, embarrassed.