‘Charles had a jolly good chap working for him, a Guards officer called Christopher Stephens who served in Europe during the war – rather like you, Prince. Stephens volunteered to go to Munich and bring the Ferret back, but I’m afraid it all went dreadfully wrong.’

‘What happened?’

‘As far as Charles can gather, Stephens was lured to a bar by a man who told him he knew where das Frettchen was. Clearly, he failed to take the right precautions: he had some Americans waiting on the street outside the bar, but he ought to have had cover inside and also made sure they were watching the back of the place. When the Americans found him in the yard behind the bar, he’d been stabbed to death. One doesn’t want to criticise a dead man, but I can’t believe he was quite so… incautious.’

‘It’s the end of the war, sir.’

‘What do you mean, Prince?’

‘I experienced it myself, sir, on my last mission – both in this country and in Germany. On my previous missions, when the war was still going on, my alertness and concentration were constantly operating at one hundred per cent. Not once did I relax or take my eye off the ball. But when the war ended, I reckon my concentration level dropped slightly, and maybe it was the same with this chap Stephens.’

‘It sounds as if you’re interested…’

‘We’ve not said yes as such, sir.’

‘Let me tell you something first about Charles. I mentioned I was at school with him?’

‘You did, sir.’

‘We were quite close chums actually: same year, same form and house – for a while we even shared a dorm. We’ve remained friends. Charles was a bit different from a lot of us: not terribly ambitious, and not sporty at all, bullied quite a lot when he first went there. He loved nature and was forever going on rambles and finding all these insects. Matron used to get furious. For a while his ambition was to be a country vet, but I don’t think his science was quite up to it, and he ended up working at his uncle’s stockbroking practice in the City. He wasn’t terribly happy there, so he joined the army, which I suppose is one way of seeing nature. Look, are either of you two going to have this last biscuit?’

It was already in Gilbey’s hand, and he eagerly bit into it as his guests shook their heads.

‘Good enough career, and well placed when the war started. Was never going to make colonel, but his French is decent so he went to work for the SOE. It had two main sections covering France: RF, which was linked to de Gaulle, and F section, which Charles worked for, the non-Gaullists. The point I’m trying to get to is that the war has been a bloody strain for him, and I’m afraid it’s all got on top of him now. He was responsible for sending over dozens of agents, and many of them didn’t make it. Now that the war’s over, he’s beginning to find out what happened to many of them – a number of them were betrayed, tortured, killed… it’s dreadful. Of course, Charles is no exception. I’ve sent over agents and lost some of them, and nearly lost others, like you, Prince.’