'Rose, don’t leave me. Promise never to leave me,’ said Ned on their wedding night, revealing an unexpected chink in his perfect armour of wealth, good looks, and country estate. Rose promised. 

          Before the wedding, Mylo had said, 'In bed, with Ned, you will wonder whether this curious act of sex would not, with Mylo, turn into something sublime – When I send for you urgently to come and meet me – just come.’ 

          For the whole of Rose’s respectable married life, she had kept faith with both men. To Ned she was a perfect wife, mother of his son and elegant hostess of Slepe. To Mylo, Rose was an impetuous and unconventional mistress, answering his erratic and impassionate calls throughout fifty years of tactful duplicity. 

          After Ned’s funeral Rose looks back on a life of dual constancy, passion, humour, and the ambiguities of love – and chooses her future.