“How do you like Simon without his beard?” Rose called after me. I knew I ought to have spoken about it before but I’d had an embarrassed feeling. “Wonderful!” I shouted. But was it? Of course he looked years and years younger and I was astonished to see how handsome he was. But there was something defenceless about his face, as if strength had gone out of it. Oh, his chin isn’t weak — it wasn’t anything like that. It was just that he had … a lost sort of look. How on earth did Rose get him to shave, I wondered, as I collected Neil’s things. I guessed she had dared him to.
