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How squeaky clean! Oh, gosh, am I interrupting something?’ she said as she sighted a bottle of vodka on an otherwise bare table, flanked by a bottle of aspirin. ‘You are going to have a party or oh, God, I am inept, you were going to—Oh,’ she whispered, covering her mouth with her hand. ‘Suicide.’
    Julia said, ‘You’ve brought my letters,’ and took them from Janet. ‘Thanks.’
    Janet said, ‘May I sit down?’ She was feeling, as she would tell Tim, a bit weak.
    Julia gestured towards a chair. Janet sat. Julia subsided cross-legged on the floor, letting the letters fall in a heap beside her.
    Minutes passed; an age, Janet later told Tim.
    ‘Aren’t you going to read them?’ she presently ventured.
    Julia said, ‘What’s the point? They will all say the same thing.’
    ‘Same thing? I don’t get—’
    ‘They will say how terribly sorry they are to hear that Giles and Christy are dead.’
    I must have looked like a stranded fish, Janet would tell Tim. My jaw dropped.
    ‘And they are not, of course, terribly sorry. Sorry, but not “terribly” and in most cases, apropos Giles, not sorry at all but positively pleased, as I am.’
    Janet said, ‘Oh my God!’
    Julia said, ‘Is he yours? Are you sure? How do you know?’ So viciously that Janet pressed back in her chair, affronted.
    Julia said, ‘Like a drink? Vodka and tonic? That’s all I’ve got. I’ll get a lemon,’ and sprang to her feet in an alarmingly agile manner. Janet, watching her go into the kitchen, thought: I could hop it, but Julia was back carrying glasses, tonic and a lemon before she could make up her mind to go. Julia said, ‘Say when,’ and sloshed vodka liberally into the glasses.
    Watching her add lemon and tonic, Janet said, ‘But I thought you were—’ and stopped herself.
    Julia smiled slightly. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I was not,’ and she took a gulp of vodka. ‘The aspirin,’ she said, ‘is a dodge I learned long ago. Take a couple before drinks and it helps with the hangover. Drink up,’ she said. ‘As you are here, you can keep me company.’
    Janet took a large swallow of her drink and, choking at its strength, said, ‘Do you think I am sallow?’
    Julia said, ‘Sallow? Why?’
    ‘Something Tim—’
    Julia said, ‘It suits you. You’re pretty.’
    Janet said, ‘Thanks,’ and swallowed some more vodka and tonic. ‘Not an awful lot of tonic,’ she said. Then she said, ‘So you weren’t—er—going to—er—well, no, obviously, but why alone?’
    ‘You don’t think I look like a lonely drinker?’
    ‘Lonely, yes. Well, you must be lonely if your Giles is, you did say Giles? Your husband?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Is dead and Christy, too. Oh my God, that’s why it’s been so quiet lately. Oh! What a dumb chum I am!’
    Julia refilled Janet’s glass and topped up her own, adding a slight amount of tonic.
    Janet said, ‘You were going to celebrate, not—’
    Julia said, ‘That’s right; celebrate the one and blot out the other. Or is that too complex for you?’
    Janet said, ‘You are making me drunk; it’s all too complex for me.’
    Julia said, ‘Lucky you.’ Later, she said, ‘Come along, time to go. I’ll help you downstairs.’
    ‘And she did,’ Janet told Tim. ‘She gave me two aspirin and tucked me into bed. Oh, Tim, I’ve never seen anyone so terrifyingly unhappy in my life. It’s appalling.’
    And Tim said, ‘Darling, you are pissed, it can’t be as bad as that,’ and held her in his arms for a few minutes. Then, hesitantly, he said, ‘Are we going to have any supper? I’m starving.’
    At this Janet jerked upright, only to lie down again with a groan. ‘I’m still on a merry-go-round. I’m sorry, Tim, but I’m better lying flat.’
    Tim said, ‘Oh,’ and then, because he really was very hungry, he volunteered to go and buy fish and chips or a take-away.
    Gratefully Janet closed her eyes, saying, ‘I might be able to sleep but leave the light on, please.’