"Can I give you a lift?" asks the Count once class is out, sticking his terribly handsome head out the window of his sports car.

Anthea bites her lip, considering; she already knows what Mum would say, but anyway, she's not Mum (thank God!) and Robert seems a decent sort who didn't give her up when he noticed her doodling sketches of evening gowns in the margins of her notes, and besides, she's got a meeting with a famous dress designer on the opposite side of town in fifteen minutes that she can only just make if she keeps on walking.

"Only if you're fast enough to suit me," she says, and smiles.