The strike had been caught by the ballroom’s cameras and seen by more guests than Damian could have counted.

I came down from the stage and gave them a short, factual statement while Damian protested, loudly, that it had been a private matter between a husband and wife, a misunderstanding, nothing for anyone official to involve themselves in.

One of the officers answered him with a patience that suggested he had heard the line before.

A public assault, he said, did not become a private matter simply because the person struck happened to be wearing the man’s wedding ring.

I was grateful to that officer, in a way I have never quite found the occasion to tell him.