Once or twice a week she’d leave the house, usually returning with shopping. Sometimes she’d be away for a couple of hours, other times for most of the day.

One day in October, she’d arrived back later than she’d ever done before. It was pitch dark by the time she returned, and as much as he enjoyed the solitude, Palmer was relieved to see her: he hadn’t even been able to light a fire, and the early-autumn chill had penetrated the house. She was smoking when she came in, which was always a bad sign, and ordered him to join her in the lounge. She checked the curtains were closed and told him to light the fire and bring her a cup of tea.

‘We may have a problem.’ She paused to sip the tea and pulled a face indicating it wasn’t quite to her liking. ‘I went to London – to the gallery.’

‘Oh yes?’

‘A man called Anthony Hawke was there earlier in the week, and from what I can gather, he sounded very sympathetic to our cause and arranged to return today to purchase a painting. The Admiral considers Ridgeway to be far too trusting and instructed me to be there today with Bourne to see what I made of the man.’

She lit another cigarette, carefully watching the match as it faded. ‘I found him rather plausible, and in fact when I raised the subject of the cause and our need for funds, he was most sympathetic and gave us a cheque for twenty-five pounds. My instincts about people are usually very acute, as they were with you. But it was only afterwards that I said to Bourne that I wondered if I too had been too trusting – seduced by his generosity, if you like. On reflection, there was something about him that could have been too good to be true.’

‘Did he give an address – surely he can be checked out?’

‘Our ability to do these things is limited, Edward, I keep telling you that. We are very few in number now: we have to be extremely careful. The Admiral is adamant we do nothing that arouses suspicion. Checking this man out could do just that. We’re struggling as it is to get money over to the Continent, and that has to be our priority.’

‘So when you say we may have a problem…’

‘I’m being cautious. I told Bourne that for the next few weeks both he and Ridgeway are to keep their heads down: they’re not to meet with anyone, no cash withdrawals, nothing to arouse suspicion. I’ll not go into London for a while.’

Her announcement that he couldn’t stay there for ever came three weeks after that. He wasn’t sure whether it was apropos of anything in particular, so he left it, but two nights later she called him to her room. In the morning, he made her a cup of tea and brought it back to bed. He noticed that she nodded approvingly as she sipped it, so decided to raise the matter.