Lucinda Dupoint possessed both pride and scruples. She also however possessed the ability to swallow the former and disregard the latter whenever it suited her.

When asked, she always said that she adored her husband. She adored him for providing the holidays, the champagne breakfasts, the black cab account, the dainty food served at the poshest restaurants, theatre, the opera, a career that consisted of “doing lunch,” and she especially adored the way his job yanked him out of the country for days, sometimes weeks on end, something that provided her with the opportunity to both have her cake and eat it.