THE MANDARIN SUITE where Alison Henry is staying this week is filled with flowers. One of the messages attached to a large display cheerfully says 'Welcome Home!'. Henry, a New Zealander who came to live in Hong Kong in January 1991, hasn't been here for almost 11 months. Now she has returned but it will not be for a long stay, and the circumstances are not happy.
'Unfortunately, the reason I'm here is for my husband's memorial service,' she says carefully, feeling her way into this conversation. 'Unfortunately, he had cancer and he died a few months ago.'
Henry's husband was David Davies, the man whose property company, First Pacific Davies, was one of the most important real estate firms in Hong Kong; it is now known as FPDSavills, one of the largest international property groups. In a transient society such as the SAR and in a high-pressure, risky business, Davies was seen as a stalwart, a much-loved figure who could always be relied upon for friendship. He gave much of his time to Hong Kong charity - he was a former chairman of the Community Chest - because he wanted to encourage others in a place which had given him so many opportunities.
Last autumn, he felt a pain in his back. He went to see a doctor on Saturday, October 30. That day, he played two hours of tennis; a former rugby player, he was a great lover of sport, especially swimming, and was a fan of Formula One racing.
'He was six foot five [two metres] and as strong as a horse,' Henry says. 'He had everything to live for, which is what has frightened everyone. A lot of people have been made to think of their own mortality because of this.'
The doctor told Davies he had cancer of the pancreas. That night, the family - Davies, Henry, their twin daughters Rebecca and Sophie, who were then aged three, and Olivia, who was only three months old - flew to London. Henry admits she thought they would all be back 'fairly soon'. They went to London in search of further medical advice. But, as it turned out, Davies needed to commence medical treatment immediately. He died in the early hours of Tuesday, June 20; the preceding Sunday, Father's Day, was the last time he saw his three little girls.