I offered a bribe in the form of matches and a cigarette.
"Don't you have an armistice even for tea?" I asked.
She shook her head provokingly.
"Joyce," I said, "when you were five, I had every reason, justification and opportunity for slapping you. I refrained. Now when I think of my wasted chances...."
"You can come to tea any time. Seraph'll give you the address."
"That's a better frame of mind," I said, as I hailed a taxi and put the two women inside it.
"It won't be an armistice," she called back over her shoulder.
"It'll have to be. I bring peace wherever I go."
"I shall convert you."
"If there's any conversion...."