‘I repeat my promise that this will be examined in detail,’ she said, trying to inject a firmness into her voice and stepping closer in the hope that he would get the hint from her body language and move aside. But he seemed immune to such unspoken messages.

‘A promise is just a promise—’ he began, and was clearly about to add something when Úrsúla interrupted, her voice sharper.

‘When I promise something, I mean it,’ she said, catching Adolf’s eye and holding it until he looked away. Then she turned to the Coast Guard officials, who stood watching with embarrassment on their faces. ‘I keep my promises, and what I’m promising now is that this will be considered in every detail.’

The Coast Guard men nodded their heads; as far as Úrsúla could see, they didn’t welcome Adolf’s overbearing manner. She turned back and came one step closer to him, so that they were almost touching, and he finally moved aside so she could open the door out into the corridor.

Her hope of snatching a cigarette break between meetings vanished when she saw that the next set of visitors were already waiting. A delegation of philologists wanted to speak to her about the Icelandic naming committee, which accepted or rejected the new first names that could be used when registering births. She reiterated her well-known opinion that it wasn’t the state’s job to be interfering in people’s personal lives.

‘We had hoped that the new minister would be more receptive to traditional arguments, and might even support maintaining the committee,’ said one of the academics, frowning, and deepening still further the chasm that had formed between his eyes the moment they had stepped into her office. 106

‘As I said, my opinion is that the Icelandic naming committee should be disbanded and we should be able to trust the good sense of the general public and allow them to choose names for their own children.’

‘That could mean that there might have to be changes to child-protection legislation,’ said one of the women, in alarm, and as far as Úrsúla could see, all three of them sat thunderstruck.

‘Isn’t that a good thing?’ she asked, making an effort to speak lightly to counterbalance her guests’ deep concern. ‘If someone really wants to give their child a name that’s so bad, it’s damaging to that child, surely there’s something going on already in that household that the child-welfare authorities should be taking an interest in. Wouldn’t it be best for the wellbeing of a child saddled with a terrible name to be examined by the authorities responsible for child welfare?’

They went through the usual arguments – the language-preservation policy, the endless delight young parents took in concocting new names and the situation in neighbouring countries – but this discussion seemed to do nothing to lessen the concerns of her guests. They would undoubtedly have stayed longer if Freyja had not come in and announced that the allotted time was up. The academics got to their feet, and Úrsúla shook their hands, promising that she would examine their arguments in detail.