Were her German family singing carols? Was Berthold with Zelda and Josef and their children? There was very little difference in age between Hugo and Claus, and Nancy and Lotti.

Emotionally, she wondered how long it would be before Berthold held Nancy in his arms. The great autumn campaign that had opened in September with such a fanfare had petered into the familiar situation of stalemate, with the fronts swaying backwards and forwards in offensives marked only by losing or recapturing a few miles of devastated, shell-pocked wasteland.

‘Let this be the last year,’ she prayed fervently. ‘Let the war be over by Christmas 1916. Please, Lord. Please.’

In the spring, she became aware of a change of tone in Zelda’s letters. Writing in her flamboyant purple scrawl she no longer seemed to care whether or not the censor got his hands on them.

When are the French and British going to come to their senses and realize that the Kaiser is in complete command of this war? Generals Joffre and Haig are donkeys and the Russians are even worse, unable to come up with any scheme Germany can’t easily dislocate. The only course open to the Allies is to surrender.

‘Good God in heaven!’ Arthur Hudson said, his eyes bulging. ‘What on earth is she thinking of? If this was to be opened and read we’d be facing a firing squad!’

His legs gave way beneath him and he sat down abruptly. ‘Fetch me a pen and paper, Vicky. I must write to her father at once. From now on he must open and vet every letter he is asked to send on to us. And unless there’s nothing in them but harmless domestic chatter, he must burn them!’

For a long time there was no communication from Zelda, though Berthold’s letters continued to arrive without interference. She received one on 1 May.

My dearest Vicky,

I worry desperately that you are suffering the kind of food shortages being suffered by others. Not by myself, of course, or Z and J. The situation elsewhere is, I believe, quite acute. How are our darling boys and my little Nancy? Is she walking yet and saying ‘Mama’? I think of you all ceaselessly and pray the day will soon come when we will all be together again.

Your loving husband, B

Not a word about Claus and Lotti,’ Arthur said, ‘but at least he’s now a little more circumspect and it isn’t littered with German names. His references to food shortages are obviously as far as he could go in letting us know what the situation is like in Berlin. According to The Times there were riots there a month or so ago. I hate to say it, but it’s all to our good. A loss of public morale in Germany might help bring the war to a close.’

Vicky made no comment, certain that the bitter tone in the last letter from Zelda had been because the war was beginning to go badly for Germany and life in Berlin, even for a Remer, was no longer so comfortable. She wished Berthold’s letter had given a little information about Claus and Lotti—especially Lotti.