Proof that friendship is priceless

WHAT would you do if somebody left you £5,000 in a will?

Like me, you’ll think of many things you could spend the money on, from new furniture to a wonderful holiday to a splurge on clothes and jewellery. Or give the windfall to your children. Or pay off those bills. But that wasn’t the thinking of beautician Jessica Zhu.

You may have read in Tuesday’s Mail the story about how the nail salon manager decided not to keep the money Dame Diana Rigg left her.

Miss Zhu had been giving the actress manicures and pedicures since 2001, and once cancer was diagnosed, she saw the star every other day, even up to the very day she died.

When she heard she had been left £5,000 she refused to take it, asking that it be given to Rigg’s grandson instead.

I’ve been unable to get this simple story out of my mind. For in a week dominated by Cop26 — with the motorcades, private jets, famous folk and rich bigwigs spouting hot air, and Lord knows how much appalling cumulative consumption and waste — one ordinary woman decided her long relationship with a client was more precious than money.

Miss Zhu said: ‘I was with her until her last minute of life because I wanted to be with her . . . out of love and kindness.’

Let’s pause for a moment to drink in those words like a fizzing glass of the best champagne. There can be no doubt that the tender treatments, as well as the ‘same old chats’ (in Miss Zhu’s words) made Dame Diana feel so much better, even though she knew she was dying.

Pink nails can do wonders for a woman’s morale — and such things are not trivial. Nor is everyday ‘chat’.

I can easily imagine that wonderful Jessica Zhu did as much good for Diana as any earnest counsellor or person of religious faith. The world is often a depressing place (perhaps more so these days), but this simple story of selfless affection made my week.

■ Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. Names are changed to protect identities. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.