‘It’s good to be home, Mother,’ he said with deep feeling. ‘The contrast between life here and life in Berlin—for people like the Dresners—is almost surreal.’

‘They don’t have to stay in Berlin,’ she said quietly. ‘And nor should they. I know the Dresners have been hoping that things would eventually get back to normal for them, but it isn’t going to. At least not in the immediate future. And before things get worse—though now all Jews have been deprived of their German citizenship it’s hard to see how much worse things can get—they should leave. There’s plenty of room for them here, at Shuttleworth Hall. And it goes without saying that Hester should be living in England—and as she’s married to a British citizen there’s absolutely no problem on that score.’

‘The problem,’ Hugo said, strain once again showing on his face, ‘is that though Hester’s parents are Jews they are also Germans and they love Germany. Solomon Dresner fought so fiercely for his country in the Great War that he was awarded an Iron Cross. He doesn’t see why he should leave the country he was born in and that his father and grandfather were born in, simply because it is now in the hands of racial maniacs. He won’t leave. I’ve asked him. I’ve pleaded with him. And he won’t budge.’

‘And Hester?’

‘You can cease worrying about Hester. I’m being transferred to London. Faced with the choice of living with me in London, or her parents in Berlin, I’m relieved to say Hester’s chosen to live with me in London. It wasn’t an easy choice for her to make, though. And if she knew I’d actually asked for the transfer, it’s a choice she may not have made.’

‘Then thank God she doesn’t know.’

The tree was now so festooned with glass crystals and baroque angels that hardly any pine needles were showing. Aware that their few moments of privacy were fast coming to an end, Vicky rose to her feet.

‘Mulled wine, anyone?’ she asked, knowing that everyone would want a glass. ‘And no, Emily Elise, you can’t have one. You’ll have your mug of hot cocoa as usual.’

The next morning Hugo and Hester took Emily Elise sledging, Paul took Max for a look around the rose nursery’s glass houses, Nancy took Tinker for a long walk by the river, Josephine embarked on a mammoth baking session, Adam spent time with Arthur Hudson and Vicky went into Little Ridding with Lotti for last-minute food shopping.

As always on Christmas Eve morning, there was a long queue at Tom Payne’s, the greengrocer’s, but it was a friendly, chatty queue, for in Little Ridding everyone knew everyone else.

‘Two pounds of Brussels sprouts, a pound of leeks, three pounds of parsnips,’ she said when it was finally her turn to be served.

‘What on earth are the leeks for?’ Lotti asked, squeezing in by her side, her fox-fur coat and hat an exotic contrast to the plain serviceable coats and headscarves of the other customers.