‘There is an expectation of war, but there’s no fear of it. At the moment Germany is on such a high it seems inconceivable to Germans that any war they engage in could be detrimental to them. And if war with Britain and France is the price they have to pay for establishing a German nation that will stretch as far as the Urals, then it is one I think they are quite prepared for.’

His Controller’s silvered eyebrows rose. ‘You think Hitler might not be satisfied with the Sudetenland? You think he has his sights set on the whole of Czechoslovakia?’

‘I think he has his sights set on the whole of central Europe. The word constantly on his lips is Lebensraum, more living space. He may be making out that his chief concern is for the welfare of Czechoslovakia’s Sudeten Germans and that, in order to put an end to what he calls their “plight” as a minority group, he wants the Sudetenland handed over to Germany, but it’s only a pretext. His real intent is to destroy the Czechoslovak state and incorporate all its territory into the Third Reich.’

His Controller said nothing. Still saying nothing he rose to his feet and crossed to the window.

Max waited, knowing what the move from desk to window signified. When the conversation resumed, the subject matter would be vastly different.

It was.

‘Tell me,’ his Controller said, his back towards him as he looked down over Whitehall, ‘what the latest situation is with regard to the Jews. Has much changed since we last talked?’

‘More and more are being arrested on little or no pretext and sent to camps which are ostensibly for political prisoners and enemies of the state. A large new camp is being built at Oranienburg, twenty miles or so from Berlin. My informant tells me that about a thousand inmates of a camp at Elmsland, near the Dutch border, have been transferred to take part in the construction.’

His Controller turned to face him. ‘So he’s begun using forced labour? And your informant on this point is reliable?’

Max nodded. Now a member of the SS, when it came to unwittingly giving information, Fritz Schenck was the most reliable informant he had.

‘There is also deep anxiety about the special treatment centres the handicapped are being sent to. Families are given little or no information. Sometimes the only contact by the authorities is when there has been a death.’

He thought of Heini Schimmel, happily now part of the family at Shuttleworth Hall. Heini had been lucky. How many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children hadn’t been so lucky?

‘And there are still the difficulties re emigration, I assume?’ his Controller said, returning to his desk and seating himself behind it. ‘Jews want to get out of Germany, Hitler wants them out of Germany and precious few countries—our own included—want to take them in.’

Max nodded. It was such an obvious statement he couldn’t imagine what it was leading up to.