The late twenties: fourteen companions, and where the talk goes

Danielle, 170 cm, black hair, can move from a long take in a classic film to a sonnet without anyone noticing the join. Patricia, 172 cm, auburn brown, loves film noir and chooses novels for other people with uncanny accuracy. Liana, 167 cm, chestnut hair, reads French literature in translation and can tell you which version of Proust to buy. Karolina, 174 cm, knows her opera plots and the Georgian doorways of Mayfair equally well, and has never been heard to raise her voice.

Nora and Tina, honey blonde and espresso brown respectively, both design clothes, and both will show you an alteration you would never have spotted on your own. Samanta, 174 cm, has played the violin since childhood and looks at a hotel lobby as a craftsman would, lamps first. Milena, 175 cm, throws ceramic bowls in patient silence and plays tennis at full volume three times a week.

Cindy, 168 cm, blonde waves, sails whenever the forecast allows and practises yoga to stay steady ashore, with a small film camera in her pocket for the one photograph worth taking. Laura, 169 cm, rides and skis, and plans her spare weeks around the Italian lakes. Thea, 165 cm, caramel blonde, hikes in Snowdonia and cycles across London in any weather. Vanessa, 173 cm, sandy balayage, explores the city by bicycle along its quieter back streets.

Rosa, 160 cm, chestnut curls, bakes sourdough every week and guards her soul and jazz vinyl jealously, though she will talk about every record. Michelle, 173 cm, dark hair, practises a cocktail at home until it is exactly right, then orders it somewhere small and beautiful to see whether the professionals agree.

Judgement, chiefly. A companion in her late twenties has usually learned when to lead a conversation and when to hand it back, how to put a table of your colleagues at ease and when an evening has quietly run its course. It also brings steadiness when plans change: a table that falls through, a flight that lands late, a guest list that doubles. For client dinners and receptions, the event companion page shows how Cressida briefs her beforehand.

If the evening is a dinner with colleagues or clients, tell Cressida what your table tends to talk about. A table of collectors might suit Karolina or Danielle, a table of people who love their food Rosa, a table that spends its weekends outdoors Cindy or Thea. She will propose one name and explain the choice.

Those who want the notebook-and-camera energy of the early twenties will find ten companions there, and four have reached their thirties. Six of the fourteen are also statuesque.