‘Ah, this is Miss Brangwen,’ he said, suddenly rousing as she entered, announced by the man-servant. ‘Thomas, put Miss Brangwen a chair here — that’s right.’ He looked at her soft, fresh face with pleasure. It gave him the illusion of life. ‘Now, you will have a glass of sherry and a little piece of cake. Thomas — ’

‘No thank you,’ said Gudrun. And as soon as she had said it, her heart sank horribly. The sick man seemed to fall into a gap of death, at her contradiction. She ought to play up to him, not to contravene him. In an instant she was smiling her rather roguish smile.

‘I don’t like sherry very much,’ she said. ‘But I like almost anything else.’

The sick man caught at this straw instantly.