Going home by herself in the taxi, Prudence thought of Eleanor and her other contemporaries at Oxford, all neatly labelled in Miss Birkinshaw’s comfortable classification. ‘Eleanor, with her work at the Ministry, Mollie with the Settlement and her dogs, and Prudence…’ Well, what about Prudence? Prudence with her love affairs, that was what Jane used to say, and perhaps, after all, it was true. She would put the red roses in a glass on her bedside table and take them into the office in the morning.
