‘Indeed,’ Morton added, decisively tapping his index finger on the table. ‘Health is a public resource, not private. You have to join. The connections you will make will see you through to the top of the profession. You should take a research trip to Moscow. They are making such strides there in certain fields. I cannot tell you how much I learned during my own visit.’ He was becoming animated, clearly getting on to a favourite topic of his. ‘They have found entirely new ways to explain diseases of the mind. They understand now that it’s all down to socialization or the lack of it. You know how I had some experience in psychiatry during the War – it’s related to neurology, of course – but, next to them, British medicine is in the Dark Ages.’

‘I’m sure Comrade Fellowman could arrange for a research visit,’ Charles commented. ‘I could accompany you.’

‘I heard their asylums are full of dissenters,’ I said.

Morton froze and slowly turned to me. He rested his elbows on the table, knitted his fingers together and looked at me over them. ‘American propaganda. A few unstable agitators, no more. And where better for them? It keeps them safe, and it keeps society safe.’

The image of Rachel being dragged out of the room flashed before me. I wanted to tell him that I had seen inside one of these asylums. ‘Couldn’t they be left in society?’ I said. ‘We’re social creatures, aren’t we?’

He smiled politely and raised his eyebrows at Nick in humour. ‘It’s very interesting to have the opinions of women such as you, but I really think this is best left to the professionals,’ he said.

‘Then perhaps you can help me with something.’

‘And what would that be?’

‘Tell me this. What’s it all for? I mean this new psychology.’

‘For?’ His mouth twitched in something that might just have been the start of anger and he rolled the word on his tongue as if it were distasteful. ‘For. Mrs Cawson, I was in Vienna in 1938 to see Sigmund Freud only just escape the country with his life. His sisters lost theirs. What do you think the Nazis had planned for Britain? Can you think for one second where it would have ended? Fascism is built on psychosis – on megalomania. It is the only communicable disease of the mind. And it is a doctor’s duty to fight disease. That is what it is for.’

‘Yes, I see,’ I said. There was strength behind the point and I felt guilty.

Charles changed the conversation. ‘When will you speak to Comrade Fellowman?’ he asked Nick.

‘Not yet.’

‘At the dinner?’

Nick glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, as if he had been keeping something from me. ‘Perhaps.’

‘What dinner?’ I asked.

‘Fellowman invited us to a big bash in honour of some Russians next week.’

‘That sounds good,’ I said.

‘Yes.’

‘When?’