Kate put down the telephone in her study and went back to join her husband Hugh in the lounge. Like the rest of their house, it had expensive modern furniture, with glass and shiny metal tables, leather sofas and armchairs, and a thick cream-coloured carpet.

Hugh was sitting in one of the armchairs, his feet up on a low table, reading the business and finance pages of the Sunday newspaper, and sipping a large glass of whisky. As she looked down at him, Kate noticed, not for the first time, that he was losing his hair and getting rather too fat around the middle. Sometimes she wondered why she had married him. He put the newspaper down.

'So what was that all about?' he asked.

'It was Jan.'

'I know it was Jan. You told me she'd left a message. What did she want this time?'

'It's about Mother.'

'Oh, no. Not again surely! Does she really expect you to call on a Sunday evening just to talk about your mother?' His voice sounded unpleasant, impatient.

'She says Mother is getting worse. She says that she forgets things and can't look after herself anymore.'

'Well, she's old, isn't she? That's the way old people are. They do forget things and get mixed up. What does she expect? What's it got to do with us anyway?'

'Well, she is my mother, you know. And Jan says that she can't manage any longer. She wants me to go down there and discuss it.'

'I don't see what there is to discuss,' said Hugh unhelpfully 'Thank goodness my parents are both dead. At least they can't cause any trouble like that.'

'Anyway, I told her I'd go down to Lewisham next Sunday.'

'You told her what? Have you forgotten we have a dinner on Sunday evening? I told you it was important. I'm trying to get Clerides and Mazumdar to sign up to my new investment fund. God, can't you remember anything!'

'I didn't forget. I'm not like my mother, not yet anyway. I'll go down there for lunch and I'll be back late afternoon, in plenty of time for your dinner. Don't be so bad-tempered. It's not easy for me, you know.'

'It's not easy for any of us,' said Hugh, and picked up his newspaper again.