‘So what did you do after that at — it can’t have taken you all day?’‘We had lunch in that restaurant in South Kensington.’‘It doesn’t exist any more.’‘Exactly,’ said Helen. ‘So we discovered. We had lunch on its ashes, as it were. Then we went shopping.’‘Well! Quite a spree! Very good for you both.’‘Don’t patronise,’ said Helen. ‘We’re less socially disadvantaged than you imagine. The village provides resources undreamed of in Camden Town. Though I will admit that I find London disconcerting these days. The landscape. Everything seems to be built of mirrors — what on earth has happened to brick? But I grant you that I’m behind the times in some ways.Architecture and offices full of botanical specimens are the least of it. Social etiquette, for instance … What’s done and what isn’t.’ She shot her sister a crafty glance. ‘Most of it is quite irrelevant to me, of course, but one keeps a sort of technical interest.’‘Huh?’ said Louise.
