It's astonishing: one forms the merest intention to stand and a member of the staff is there, noiselessly pulling back the chair and taking one's elbow to show the way to the necessary. Nicole gets this treatment from one of the staff and in the powder room encounters the well dressed and coiffed Frenchwoman from the next table. They fall into a conversation and before you know it Nicole's been invited on a kitchen tour the woman and her husband have been promised, and she invites Paulette along, too.

The wine glasses are empty, the last scrap of food has been cleared from the table, and the ladies wave to us gaily as they disappear into the kitchen. We affect stiff upper lips, trying not to look crestfallen that we don't get to go, too.