Fellow traveling chiefs of staff too are appreciative. Said Mike Feldman, who worked for Al Gore: “Campaigns are unwieldy, hard-to-control things. Decisions have to be made on the fly; you need somebody you can trust at that moment — Watch them together, and there’s this nonverbal communication between them. Sometimes it’s as little as a glance, but the senator knows she can hand off a head of state, a senator, or an important donor to Huma and that the conversation is going to end well.”

Vogue noted her flawless skin and hair after three hours of sleep and four cups of coffee. And de la Renta, Clinton’s close friend and host to both boss and personal assistant at his Dominican Republic home, noted how they were workaholics. He was more effusive in the Observer article: “She is an unbelievably feminine and gentle person, but at the same time she can accomplish so much.” But: “I really don’t know much about her history, because Huma is not such a talkative girl.”

Abedin did tell Vogue that she was two when her family moved to Saudi Arabia, where her late father founded an institute to foster religious understanding between East and West, and where her mother helped set up a women’s college and taught sociology.

But the mythologising is about her current persona. “She does make the trains run on time, and she does it well,” gushed Bob Barnett, the Clinton’s personal lawyer.

And in that Observer profile, a participant recalled a New York political meet: “It was like 110 degrees outside. We were all just pouring down with sweat. But I have this distinct memory of Huma traipsing in in this blue pantsuit — it was like this wool pantsuit — not a bead of sweat on her brow, not a hair out of place, with everything perfectly organised in her Yves Saint Laurent handbag.” All this, presumably, while keeping Hillary Clinton ahead of any possible PR disaster.