Cecily opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it rapidly again. Louisa gave a loud snort. ‘How amusing,’ she said. ‘Let me know if you need any explanatory notes. Or let Guy know, rather.’

Frank cleared his throat. ‘Louisa,’ he said, placatory. ‘Why don’t we go for a walk along the path? We can play rounders later.’

‘Yes, please,’ Louisa said. She looked up at him and smiled. ‘I’d love that.’ She took his hand. ‘Let’s go.’

They disappeared up the steps. Miranda looked around. ‘Oh, has Louisa gone off to play with Frank?’ she said, after a moment. ‘I was hoping she’d get me a drink. He’s forgiven, I take it.’

‘Miranda,’ Archie said, under his breath. ‘Stop it.’ He turned to the others and rocked on his feet. ‘We can play rounders with four, can’t we?

Improvise a bit?’

‘Of course,’ said Guy. He looked up at the path and then back at Miranda. ‘Sure you won’t play, Miranda?’

‘Oh.’ Miranda was rather trapped. ‘Um – no, thanks, Guy dear. I think perhaps later? I do so want to read my Private Eye.’

‘I feel sorry for Miranda,’ Cecily said, as the four of them moved across to where the beach was smooth. ‘It must be awful, being so bad at whatever it is she’s trying to be.’

‘Shut up, Cecily,’ Archie said automatical y. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He spun the cricket bat around in his hand. ‘Hi!

Leighton, Jeremy, what do you say we play cricket instead? I fancy trying out my new fast bowling technique. It puts Wes Hal to shame.’

‘Great idea,’ said Jeremy, whose bulky frame was better suited to rugby than cricket. ‘Cecily, do you want to bat?’

‘Yes, I do,’ Cecily said. ‘Miss Moore said I was a great batswoman this term. I’ve real y come on, apparently. Perhaps I’l play for England one day.’

The three men were silent. She looked at them, smiling slightly.

‘Oh, sorry, I forgot. I’m a girl. How ridiculous of me.’

‘Right,’ said Archie, handing her his bat. ‘Show us what you’re made of.’

A rather hilarious game of cricket ensued, as Cecily demonstrated on a tiny pitch that she was, in fact, a talented batsman. The tennis bal landed in the sea so many times the game had an extra added spin to it, but this did not daunt Cecily in the slightest.

‘My hand-and-eye co-ordination is excel ent,’ Cecily said immodestly, when Guy congratulated her. She smiled at him. ‘I’ve often been told so.

I’m remarkable.’

‘So I can see,’ Guy told her. He looked up at Louisa and Frank, back from their walk. ‘Hi, you two.’

‘Where did you go?’ Archie asked, as Louisa opened the hamper.

‘Oh, just around, up along the rocks,’ Louisa said. ‘There are loads of tourists on the beach behind us.’ She lifted out a large package wrapped in greaseproof paper. ‘Isn’t this fun, a picnic like this on the beach?’ She gave a great contented sigh. ‘Oh, it’s lovely when everything’s lovely. Here are the sandwiches,’ she said, suddenly practical Louisa again. ‘Frank, can you give them out?’

‘Of course.’

‘We walked pretty fast,’ Louisa went on. ‘It’s lovely, there’s a good breeze when you’re up on the path. I saw a lovely flower, quite unusual. What did we think it was, Frank?’

‘You thought it might be a Meadow Cranesbil ,’ Frank said. ‘Wow,’ said Miranda, gingerly inspecting the pile of sandwiches Frank was offering her. ‘Fascinating. What japes.’

* * *

After lunch, Jeremy, Frank and Louisa lit cigarettes, and sat back. The occasional light spray of water hit them, but otherwise everything was stil .

‘I want to get as boiling as possible, and then dive into the sea,’ said Cecily, closing her eyes and stretching out. ‘So that my skin feels hot to the touch.’ She slid one slim leg across a smooth black stone. ‘It burns!’ she said.

‘It’s great,’ Frank said. ‘We could be in Greece. Or India.’

‘Or France, it gets jol y hot in France,’ Jeremy said. ‘I want to go to India one day,’ Cecily said. ‘Go and see where Daddy’s from. Except it’s Pakistan now, Lahore.’

‘I want to go to India,’ Guy said. ‘Some friends of mine thought they’d go after they’ve come down from Oxford.’

The others were silent. ‘It’s a long way,’ said Louisa eventual y.

‘Wel , but we’ve got the rest of our lives,’ Guy said easily. ‘I want a bit of adventure before I settle down. In ten years’ time, I’l be a boring old something-or-other. I want to be able to look back and say, “Oh, yes. I did that.” Before I go back to sleep by the fire.’

‘You’l never be a boring old something-or-other, Guy,’ Frank told his brother. ‘I wil be. Not you. You’l be living in a flat on the Left Bank, wearing a beret and smoking Gitanes, talking about the summer you spent with Arvind Kapoor.’

Guy gave a short laugh. ‘The Bowler Hat’s right,’ Louisa said. ‘You’l be up at the Moulin Rouge every night, hanging out with cancan dancers and drinking absinthe—’

‘I say, when is this?’ Guy said, amused. ‘1890? Is Toulouse Lautrec my best friend?’

Louise looked rather stumped. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said.

‘Where wil you be in ten years, then?’ Guy asked her. ‘Not one of the cancan dancers, I’l bet, Louisa. Not you.’

‘Oh. I don’t know. Where do you think I’l be?’

Guy put his coffee cup down and stared out to sea. ‘I think you’l be in New York, running the UN.’

‘Oh, Guy! Come off it!’ Louisa said. ‘He’s right,’ Frank said. ‘I think you wil .’

‘Yes,’ said Archie. ‘Hundreds of men underneath you. You’d like that, Louisa.’

‘Shut up, Archie, you little pig,’ Louisa said. ‘I didn’t mean—’

‘God, you’re vile, you real y are.’ Guy and Frank watched her, puzzled. She turned her back on Archie and swivel ed round to face Frank. ‘You don’t think that, real y, do you?’

Frank was stil staring at Archie in confusion, but he stopped and wrinkled his nose. ‘Don’t know, but I can imagine it, Louisa. You’re a terribly organised girl. Awful y clever, much more than me. You’re a real go-getter.’

‘Wel , I don’t know if I want to be a go-getter,’ Louisa said archly. She seemed a little disturbed by this. ‘Perhaps I just want to be at home. Have some children, look after them. Be a good wife.’

‘Urgh.’ Cecily made vomiting sounds behind her. ‘Please, Louisa.’

‘You could do both, you know,’ Guy said. Louisa looked at him blankly.

‘What about you?’ she said, gently nudging Frank. ‘Where do you think you’l be in ten years’ time? What wil you be doing?’

‘Oh. Um.’ Frank looked uncomfortable. ‘Don’t know.’ He picked at the embroidered logo on his polo shirt. ‘Sounds rather boring, if you say it out loud.’

‘Say it,’ Guy said quietly. ‘It’s not boring, old man, not if you real y want it.’

Frank stretched his arms above his head, faux-nonchalantly, and said, ‘Wel , it’s not much, real y. Think about having a nice house somewhere.

With a little drive, some hedges.’

‘Hedges?’ Cecily said, almost in disbelief. ‘Why—’ Guy nudged her.

‘And you know – I’d have qualified as a chartered surveyor. Be working at a good company. I’d get the train into town every day. Work with some nice chaps. I suppose, I never thought about it much. And – and wel ,’ he said, getting into his stride. ‘There’d be a . . . a family at home for me when I got back.’

‘You real y are the last of the great romantics, Bowler Hat,’ Cecily said. ‘Who is this family, a load of gypsies you’ve welcomed into your home?’

Frank took Louisa’s hand. ‘No,’ he said, squeezing her fingers. ‘My own family. My wife, and our children.’

There was a silence as the others digested this and Louisa’s eyes shone.

‘If she’s back from work, of course,’ added Frank, breaking in again. ‘Er – she might stil be working, of course. Perhaps we’d even get the train back together,’ he said, real y into his stride now.

Cecily got up. ‘I’l buy you both matching bowler hats for the wedding,’ she said. ‘Goodness, I got you quite wrong, didn’t I?’ She stretched herself out, languorously. ‘What about you, Archie?’

‘Don’t know,’ Archie said simply. His eyes roamed round. ‘Here’s Miranda.’ He cal ed out to his approaching sister, ‘You going for a swim?’

‘I thought so, yes. I’m boiling. Come in?’

‘Sure,’ said Archie. ‘Miranda’s a bril iant swimmer.’

‘She’s pretty amazing, actual y,’ Cecily told Guy. ‘She can do a somersault in the air off the diving board at school. She swims like a fish. It’s—’

She stopped as Miranda reached them.

‘Are you talking about me?’ Miranda said suspiciously. ‘Yes,’ Cecily said. ‘Just saying what a great swimmer you are.’

‘Don’t lie,’ Miranda said. ‘We were! Weren’t we?’ Cecily said, turning to Guy. ‘What about you, Miranda?’ Guy asked. ‘Where do you think you’l be in ten years’ time? What wil you be doing?’

Miranda looked taken aback. ‘I’m going to be running the UN,’ Louisa said. ‘Guy’s going to be living on the Left Bank wearing a beret, Frank’s going to be wearing a bowler hat and going into the City every day and Jeremy, we didn’t do you, or you, Cec.’

‘Oh, I’m boring,’ Jeremy said. ‘I’l be a doctor. I know what I want to be.’

‘That’s wonderful.’ Cecily looked at him with adoration. ‘Archie, what about you?’ Miranda asked her brother quickly.

‘I don’t know,’ said Archie helplessly. ‘I’d like to live in a hotel. You know, Monte Carlo or somewhere. Drive a fast car, see a bit of life.’ He crossed his arms. ‘But I’d be successful. Have my own business, sel ing cars or something. Studying’s a waste of time.’

‘But you’re going to Oxford, I thought,’ Cecily said. ‘No, I’m not.’ Archie shrugged. ‘Don’t see the point. Whole world out there ful of fun and excitement, I’m not going to moulder away in some old building for three years studying things people don’t care about any more.’