As she always did on any really important day, Penelope Hayes wore red.

The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color - oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples.

What was it about that short creature with her wild hair and spurious air of purity and why would anyone much less two men love her and to such disastrous ends.

As she always did on any really important day, Penelope Hayes wore red.

So this is how life was, she thought with a faint smile: It wore you down until you emerged at its wildest, most unexpected ends.

Diana knew it wouldn't be right, but then she told herself that things only looked wrong when there was someone to see you.

Good night.' Diana summoned all the dignity that she could manage in her bedraggled state and began to move back up the beach. Her dress was soaked and her stockings dotted with sand and her heart couldn't possibly withstand any more.