Cecily: My life is driven by moments of confidence wherein I score free oysters and cab rides and jewels and trips to Florence, and moments of complete inadequacy which I fill with purchased luxury like €25 Bloody Marys at Le Meurice and €7 cappuccinos at the Westin and house cleaners and dry cleaning. Gratuitous spending buoys me. But today, my house cleaner, for whom I’ve been waiting in squalor two days to arrive, cancelled. Egad! I need a small maid that will clean behind me continuously.

Alexander: Fleur Volpe has that. Her maid lives in the chambre de bonne above her ten bedroom flat and she cleans eight hours a day. I only saw her once and she looked mortified at having been acknowledged.