Constance

Constance is thirty and has the patience to give a reason rather than a flat no, which is rarer than it sounds and makes a declined request much easier to hear. She will tell you what she does not discuss, say briefly why, and then move the conversation somewhere more useful. French, Dutch and English are all hers, and she has a habit of checking halfway through an hour whether the language in use is still the comfortable one. Her base is in Oud-Zuid, a district of long avenues and slow traffic, and she treats the trip across town as part of the booking rather than an interruption to it.

Constance 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.