Dear AD:

You wrote:
> Is there a difference as regards their meanings between:
> a.”He had talked to her after I saw her.”
> and:
> b.”He had talked to her after I had seen her.”
>
In many cases they would mean the same thing. The tense difference can be significant, though. You probably would say “a” if you had been talking about seeing her and the next event was his talking to her. You would use “b” if you needed to establish that his talking to her took place separately and afterwards and the narrative was not seamless. Perfect tenses emphasize that the action has been completed.