Beatrice

Oud-Zuid suits her: broad quiet streets, a flat with too much floor, the gel warmed while she asks how the day went. Italian and English come out in turn, and the change of one for the other is usually the first sign she has settled. Her pressure runs even and slightly heavier than people expect of someone her build, and nothing about the glide is decorative or hurried. Dinner bookings and long evenings fill most of her diary, and she is better company at a table than anyone has prepared for.

Beatrice decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.