‘You don’t mind my commandeering our evening by arranging to go with my cousin to the club my sister sings in?’ she asked, concerned about his feelings.

‘Of course not,’ Vladimir said sincerely. ‘He’s Hugo’s brother, isn’t he?’

She nodded.

‘Then in that case, I’m delighted to be having the opportunity to get to know him. Is he in the Foreign Service, like Hugo?’

‘Goodness, no. Max works for Barings, a British bank. He’s often in Berlin transacting business on their behalf—or here simply because this is where he was born and half his family are here—but he has no connection with diplomatic life.’

Vladimir, who had lots of connections with diplomatic life, continued to show interest. He knew Hugo well, and liked him. He also knew Nancy Remer slightly and though her bluntly expressed fierce anti-Nazi remarks had startled him, he had liked her as well, especially as her fearless opinions were so identical to his own. If Max Remer were in the same mould as his brother and sister, he would be congenial company.

‘Will any other family members be at Ciro’s tonight?’ he asked, wondering if Hugo would also be there.

‘No. Claus is in the Ruhr and Hugo and Hester don’t nightclub much.’

‘Not even to enjoy a Lotti Remer performance?’

Ilse’s seductive smile touched her mouth yet again. ‘Lotti doesn’t sing as Lotti Remer. It would cause too many family problems. Her stage name is Lotti Lennartz.’

Sophisticated from the soles of his feet to the top of his immaculately groomed head, Vladimir was not in the habit of displaying ignorant surprise, but he did so now, almost choking on his whisky.

‘Great heavens! I had no idea! She’s splendid, absolutely wonderful. But she doesn’t look remotely like you and Hugo. I’d never have realized she was your sister in a million years.’

‘Well, she is. The oddity actually is not that Lotti is dark, when Hugo and I are so fair, but that any of us are fair at all, for my mother is very dark-haired.’

‘Yes. Of course.’ Vladimir cursed himself for a fool. Zelda Remer’s exotic looks could easily be interpreted as being Jewish, and drawing attention to them had been a crass thing to do, even though Ilse seemed oblivious to any embarrassment.

‘It’s good to have such close family, isn’t it?’ Vladimir, whose family connections weaved through most of the ex-reigning houses of Europe, actually thought it rather odd that the Remers had no other extended family. His own family ramifications ran into the hundreds.

‘Oh, it is—and there’s Max now. I can always recognize his footsteps.’

As she finished speaking, the door opened and Max entered the room. He was wearing an immaculately cut white dinner jacket and his thick dark hair was, as always, curling a little too long in the nape of his neck. He moved with the grace and toughness of an athlete and Vladimir’s eyebrows rose slightly. Being friends with the rather self-effacing Hugo had not prepared him for this blazingly handsome, utterly self-assured and confident man.