he was far too self-opinionated and objective by nature. He said it as he would say a piece of sculpture was remarkable, because he knew it was so.

And it gratified her to hear it from him. Other people had such a passion to make everything of one degree, of one pattern. In England it was chic to be perfectly ordinary. And it was a relief to her to be acknowledged extraordinary. Then she need not fret about the common standards.

‘You see,’ she said, ‘I have no money whatsoever.’

‘Ach, money!’ he cried, lifting his shoulders. ‘When one is grown up, money is lying about at one’s service. It is only when one is young that it is rare. Take no thought for money — that always lies to hand.’