There was a brief silence and then I asked, 'Why should a woman who's free to do as she pleases sleep with everyone on earth?'

He looked at me severely. 'If a man, a man for whom you might have a little liking, asked you straight out to spend the night with him, would you do it?'

'That depends.'

'On what?'

'On him, on me, on the circumstances.'

'Let's suppose that I asked you now. What then?'

'I don't know.'

I had seen it coming ever since we broached the subject but, nevertheless I was taken by surprise.