Miss Johnson sat in the dining room having tea and looked out at all the people on the beach. Maybe she should go for a walk before dinner. She was just deciding in which direction she should walk when Mr. Rodgers came into the room and walked straight towards her. There was no way she could avoid him; he had clearly seen her and she still had a cup of tea in front of her ready to drink. ‘Do you mind if I sit down?’ he asked politely. Of course, she couldn't refuse; it wasn’t in her nature to be rude. ‘Yes, please do,’ she said and offered him some tea. He accepted but then didn’t seem to be paying attention when she asked him if he’d like milk and sugar. In fact, he seemed very distracted. Suddenly he got up and started pacing up and down in front of the table. This was really quite annoying as he was walking right in front of the window and getting in the way of the nice view. ‘I’ve got a problem,’ he said, ‘and I was hoping you might be able to help me with it.’ ‘Oh!’ she replied. She hadn’t expected him to be so familiar; they had only known each other for a few weeks and they were not really friends. ‘Well, I’ll try,’ she said. ‘I'd be happy to help in any way I can. ‘It all started last week,’ he began. ‘I was on my way to the shops when I bumped into Veronica Gray. We stopped and had a chat for a couple of minutes, you know about the weather, and then just as I was making my excuses and saying goodbye her husband came round the corner. He looked very serious and not at all happy to find us chatting together. Veronica suddenly went very quiet and almost ran away in the opposite direction. Her husband walked past me, barely said hello, and followed his wife round the corner. I was very confused by the whole thing. One minute she’d been happily gossiping and then as soon as Gregory appeared she became a different person. And he, well, for a second I thought he might hit me.’ I didn’t see either of them again until last night, here in the hotel. I was coming down to dinner when I heard voices on the stairs below me. I didn’t recognise who it was but as I walked round the corner, I saw it was Veronica and Gregory and they were clearly arguing. It was too late for me turn back, they had already seen me, so I said good evening and carried on downstairs as quickly as I could. But Gregory called me back. He was quite angry and started shouting at me; he said I should mind my own business and leave his wife alone. Veronica was crying and tried to tell her husband to leave me alone, that it wasn’t my fault and so on. It was very unpleasant and I really had no idea what was going on. I said I had no idea what he was talking about and to be honest I might have just put it down to him being a bit jealous and left it at that except that at that moment Annabel came down the stairs and saw us. I don’t know if you know but she and I are engaged.’ ‘Yes, I did know; congratulations.’ And, of course, it didn’t look good, having Gregory more or less accuse me of having some sort of affair with his wife. Annabel just looked at me and walked off. Now she won’t speak to me. What do you think I should do? Should I confront Gregory and make him see sense? Or should I try and find out from Veronica what is going on? There’s obviously something not right between them; I just don’t understand how I got involved. I’d really appreciate any help you can give me.’ ‘Well, I think the first thing you need to do is speak to Annabel and make sure she sees that this is just a misunderstanding.’ ‘I’ve tried that,’ he explained, ‘but she won’t speak to me; she doesn’t answer the phone when I call her.’ He looked desperate. ‘OK,’ she said gently, ‘why don’t I go and speak to Annabel, and tell her about this conversation we’ve just had?’ ‘Would you? Oh, thank you, I’d be so grateful.’ She left him sitting at the table looking much happier already. And she knew just where to find Annabel. At this time of day, she was always in the garden reading.