AMELIA My first impression of Petra was that she was a charming, glamorous, middle-aged woman, but then, when one really looked at her, I could see that her beauty was somewhat marred by the fact that she was perpetually wearing a sneer. It looked like she had some dirt under her nose and was trying to escape the smell. She was impeccably dressed, almost to the point of garishness. Her low-backed sequinned gown belonged more to a glamorous dinner party. So did the fur stole she had wrapped around her shoulders, the pearl drop earrings, and the really high heels. She looked like she had stepped right out of the pages of a glossy fashion magazine. Her gaze immediately swivelled to Anton, who had muttered her name purely for my benefit, it seemed. "Yes, Anton. It's me," she said in a