‘Don’t say that,’ Fiona said. ‘She’s ill.’

Kate didn’t fancy an argument with her daughter, so the rest of the meal passed off in small-talk.

Rose insisted Kate leave the washing-up and go straight to bed, but her fevered state of mind seemed to accelerate with the night. She climbed beneath the huge duvet ready to pass out, but something in her brain prevented her from drifting off. And the more she thought and worried about it, the more awake she felt. Worry became fear, then panic.

She didn’t know whether it was better to lie there and hope that sleep crept over her or get up and distract herself, so she ended up doing both in turn. She switched on the bedside light and tried to read the new William Boyd novel she’d brought with her.

Then she switched off the light and lay still.

She got up, drew back the curtains and gazed at the moonlight, which shimmered on the still waters of the bay.

But as the hours of the night crawled slowly by, she had to acknowledge to herself that sleep would not come. As a consequence, the dawn was a kind of relief. The sun came up over the estuary with a crisp amber hue. Kate watched the light creep across the landscape, freeing her inch by inch from the terrors of the night.

She let herself out and walked around the headland towards the small town of Rock, crossed the golden sands of Daymer Bay and climbed to the top of Brae Hill, where the view took in a contrasting patchwork of green and blue all the way down to Padstow on the far side of the inlet.

Rose and Simon were already at the breakfast table by the time she returned, but there was no sign of her mother or either of the children. Rose poured her a cup of coffee. ‘Did you sleep?’

‘No.’

‘Not much or not at all?’

‘Not at all.’ Kate shook her head. ‘It’s weird. It’s a long time since I managed to go all night without any sleep.’

‘It’s not weird at all,’ Rose said. ‘You’ve been under the most incredible pressure. Something has to give.’

‘I guess so.’

Kate pulled the newspaper across. ‘NATO in Crisis’ was the headline on The Times. ‘The Germans say they still want to send more troops to Estonia, even if NATO refuses to do so officially,’ Rose said. ‘The French will follow suit.’

‘Any word from Downing Street?’

‘Still the same line, that the crisis is receding. It’s a time to cool tempers, especially as the British public wouldn’t wear being drawn into a conflict over a country like Estonia. Or words to that effect.’ Simon put down his copy of the Financial Times and poured himself more coffee. ‘Makes you proud to be British, doesn’t it?’

Kate’s phone buzzed. There was a message from C. The foreign secretary has asked to see us at Chevening tonight. I hear you’re with Rose in Cornwall, so will send a car to Paddington to bring you down there.