Carefully, I picked up the hat and pushed myself to my feet. There was a mirror on the wall near by, large and gilded. The reflection in it was still a shock. A boy, that was what I saw. A moody gitano boy who’d been in a scuffle. I placed the hat upon my head. It was bigger on me than it had been on the man, but it fitted. The cream colour suited my skin, but combined with the grubby suit, it looked absurd. I felt a pulse of envy for the man who had left it, for his wardrobe of beautiful, pristine clothes, for the way he had carried himself without a care. And at the same time, something rushed through me that I couldn’t name, something like excitement, a shiver of possibility that made me raise my chin just a fraction …

There was a noise at the door. I swiped the hat from my head and held it tight.

‘Who’s there?’ I called.

It was a hotel man in a dinner jacket, a stiff collar around his turkey neck. His mouth was tight with distaste, and I dropped my chin, not wanting him to look too closely.

‘I see you are awake,’ he said. ‘In that case, we will have you taken back to the border.’

‘To the policía?’ I backed a pace into the room. ‘I have done nothing wrong.’

‘You are not in trouble,’ he said, irritable. ‘But neither can you stay in Gibraltar.’ His eyes flicked to the hat in my hand, and he frowned.

‘Where are they?’ I asked, gripping the hat’s brim. ‘The man and the lady? I’d like to thank them.’ Really, I didn’t want to do anything of the sort. I only wanted to know who they were, whether they were still in the hotel.

The man’s face hardened. ‘Mr Langham and Lady de Luca Bailey departed after luncheon. You are very lucky. There are not many who would have treated you so well.’

Langham. The word caught my attention, like a thorn snagging cloth. Arthur Langham.

‘What do you mean “departed”?’ I asked, forgetting any pretence at manners. ‘Departed where? Will they be back?’

The man’s face was turning sourer by the second. I saw now that he held the piece of stamped paper in his hand, the one that had been issued by the soldiers at the border.

‘They took the afternoon boat for Tangiers,’ he snapped. ‘Whether they will be back is their own business, and none of yours.’ He held out an arm, to funnel me towards the door. ‘Now, I must insist …’