In the coffee shop Vernon Demerest ordered tea for Gwen and black coffee for himself. Coffee helped him to think clearly, and he would probably drink ten more cups on his way to Rome.

'We're both unusually quiet,' Gwen said in her gentle English voice. 'We hardly said a word on our way over here.' She turned her large eyes towards Vernon's face.

'I wasn't talking because I've been thinking,' he said.

'Thinking about what? About being a father?' Gwen said, smiling. 'Would you rather have a boy or a girl?'

'Oh Gwen, can't we be serious about this?'

'Why should you be worried if I'm not?' she asked. Then she took his hand and said: 'I'm sorry. I suppose it really is a bit of a shock - for both of us.'

This was the opportunity Vernon had been waiting for. 'We don't have to be parents if we don't want to be,' he said. Gwen took her hand away.

'I wondered how long it would take,' she said. 'You almost said it in the car, and then you decided to leave it until later, didn't you?'

'Leave what until later?'

'Oh really, Vernon! Why pretend? You want me to have an abortion, don't you? You've been thinking about it all the time, haven't you?'

'Yes,' he admitted.

'What's the matter? Did you think I'd never heard the word before?'

'I wasn't sure how you would feel about it.'

Gwen looked serious. 'I'm not sure how I feel.'

At least she hadn't said 'no' immediately.

'It would be the most sensible thing to do,' Vernon said. 'And it isn't dangerous at all.'

'I know. It's very simple, isn't it?'

Perhaps this was going to be easier than he had expected.

'Vernon,' she continued, 'have you really thought about this? You want to kill a human being, a person who is part of both of us, a person we have made with our love.'

'It is not a human being, Gwen,' he said firmly. 'It would be later, but it isn't now.'

'Do you mean that you wouldn't kill it later, but you would now?'

'Don't twist my words around, Gwen.'

'I suppose you think I'm being stupid,' she said sadly, 'but I do love you, Vernon, I really do.'

'I know,' he said. 'That's why this is so difficult for both of us.'

Gwen sighed. 'I suppose in the end I'll be sensible. I'll have an abortion. But I must have a little time to think about it first.'

'Of course. But we must act as quickly as possible.'

'I promise you I'll decide before the end of this trip.'

As they got up to leave the coffee shop, Gwen said: 'I'm really lucky to have you, Vernon. Some men would have walked away and left me.'

'I won't leave you.'