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confident supported her position, as well as one or two she felt might be wavering. But she wanted to let Grace know that she still couldn’t predict which way the vote
would fall.
    Grace took even less interest in the company’s fortunes than Giles, and on one or two occasions had even forgotten to cash her quarterly dividend cheque. She had recently been appointed
Senior Tutor at Newnham, so she rarely ventured beyond the outskirts of Cambridge. Emma was occasionally able to tempt her sister up to London for a visit to the Royal Opera House, but only for a
matinee, with just enough time for supper before catching the train back to Cambridge. As Grace explained, she didn’t care to sleep in a strange bed. So sophisticated at one level, so
parochial at another, their dear mother had once remarked.
    Luchino Visconti’s production of Verdi’s
Don Carlo
had proved irresistible, and Grace even lingered over supper, listening intently as Emma spelt out the consequences of
investing such a large amount of the company’s capital reserve on a single project. Grace nibbled away at her green salad in silence, only making the occasional comment, but not offering an
opinion until Major Fisher’s name entered the conversation.
    ‘He’s also getting married in a few weeks’ time, I’m reliably informed,’ said Grace, taking her sister by surprise.
    ‘Who in God’s name would want to marry that vile creature?’
    ‘Susie Lampton, it seems.’
    ‘Why do I know that name?’
    ‘She was at Red Maids’ when you were head girl, but she was two years below you, so it’s unlikely you’d remember her.’
    ‘Only the name,’ said Emma. ‘So it’s your turn to brief me.’
    ‘Susie was already a beauty by the age of sixteen, and she knew it. Boys just stopped and stared as she passed by, their mouths open. After Red Maids’, she took the first available
train to London and got herself on the books of a leading model agency. Once she’d stepped on to the catwalk, Susie made no secret of the fact that she was on the lookout for a rich
husband.’
    ‘If that’s the case, Fisher isn’t much of a catch.’
    ‘Perhaps he wouldn’t have been back then, but now that she’s thirty-something, and her modelling days are over, a director of the Barrington Shipping Line, with an Argentinian
millionaire as his backer, may well prove to be her last chance.’
    ‘Can she be that desperate?’
    ‘Oh yes,’ replied Grace. ‘She’s been jilted twice, once at the altar, and I’m told she’s already spent the money that the court awarded her following a
successful breach of promise suit. She even pawned the engagement ring. Mr Micawber is not a name she’s familiar with.’
    ‘Poor woman,’ said Emma quietly.
    ‘You needn’t lose any sleep over Susie,’ Grace assured her. ‘That girl possesses a degree of native cunning that you won’t find on the curriculum of any
university,’ she added before finishing her coffee. ‘Mind you, I don’t know which one I feel more sorry for, because I can’t believe it will last that long.’ Grace
glanced at her watch. ‘Must dash. Can’t afford to miss the last train.’ And without another word, she gave her sister a perfunctory kiss on both cheeks, left the restaurant and
hailed a taxi.
    Emma smiled as she watched her sister disappear into the back of a black cab. The social graces may not have been among her greatest strengths, but there wasn’t a woman Emma admired more.
Several past and present generations of Cambridge students could only have benefited from being taught by the Senior Tutor at Newnham.
    When Emma asked for the bill, she noticed that her sister had left a pound note on her side plate; not a woman who cared to be beholden to anyone.

    The best man handed the bridegroom a simple gold band. Giles in turn placed the ring on the third finger of Miss Hughes’s left hand.
    ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife,’ declared the registrar. ‘You may