Chapter Five
It had been over breakfast in a West End hotel, at the launch of a new financial services company. At that time Sophie was just beginning to make her way as a specialist in computer systems for financial analysts. Roberto, as she discovered, had been working in London for barely two months, posted there by his bank in Milan. She complemented him on his excellent English, fluent with only the slightest of accents. He explained to her he had been educated at an English public school, a minor one in the Home Counties.
“I hated it,” he said to Sophie over dinner that evening. “Nothing but baked beans and buggery. But it did give me good English. I’m grateful for that. And some understanding of the English upper middle classes.”
They’d fallen into conversation at breakfast and
