Earwig performed the introductions and promptly disappeared, leaving Redfyre lost for words in front of a beautiful Frenchwoman in possibly her early thirties. Her bobbed, glossy dark hair, hooded brown eyes, wide red lips and daring décolletage were intimidating. Like a Long Tom field gun, you could admire its lines in profile at a mile’s distance, but at close range with its barrel pointing straight at you, there was no choice. You chucked away your musket and ran.

“Take no notice of Earwig, madam,” he found himself muttering treacherously in self-defence. “All her geese are swans. I’ve never had a lesson in my life, and the only practice I’ve had was in Parisian dance halls on leave from my unit. I’m afraid I’m more skilled at killing people than dancing with them.”

“Then the tango is your dance, Monsieur Redfyre! That is its dark secret. It is a dance of barely disguised violence and hatred. The girl spurns, even kicks out at the man, and he despises her. He lusts after her, which is explicit in a properly danced tango, but ultimately, he throws her away like a soiled glove. Perhaps later . . . ?”

With superb stagecraft, she turned from him and began to make her way over to the band just as a kettle drum gave out three peremptory raps and a saxophone snarled a pay-attention flourish. The crowd fell silent and cleared the roadway. They’d done this before and knew what to expect. Madame Dorine spoke in a clear voice in perfect English with the merest trace of a French accent. It hardly mattered what she was saying; the crowd was entranced. People began to emerge from the alehouses and cafés along the parade, and a noisy party from the Eagle had daringly brought their drinks out with them.

Redfyre gathered that she was promising a demonstration tango to kick off with, a dance with her partner, Alexis. Alexis stalked forward, lean, dark, tightly trousered, menacingly unsmiling, and bowed deeply to applause and good-natured wolf whistles from the crowd. After that, the dancers of her school would perform a waltz, a fox-trot and thirdly, a tango. Finally, the audience was invited to take part in a general excuse-me and choose a partner from among the dancers of the school, who would teach them the essential steps.