"She sounds like a remarkable woman " Una said, sincerely. "And you're right, of course; it's society that persuades women that we ought to behave in a certain way, particularly towards men. Even I find it hard to get over that conditioning. As you have correctly guessed. And I suppose you might say that my friend Catherine and I allow ourselves to be fucked up around one another more than we do anyone else." A small half-grin. "Are you sure we haven't met before? Not the last time I was here; I mean before that. Because you seem to know me awfully well."

She was teasing, but for her, there was always the possibility that there might be something to that after all, and she wasn't guaranteed to remember every acquaintance she made, or every persona she adopted.