‘I’m absolutely sure it would have been,’ A.P. replied. ‘I want to be a journalist, as you know, and lose no opportunity to gain experience. All grist to a writer’s mill, is what my Grandma Marianne calls it. Once, when she mentioned she was going to a wake when the father of a Catholic friend of hers had died, I persuaded her to take me along. Except for the whisky swigging, the atmosphere – all those aunts and uncles and cousins together in one big room, not to mention the friends – reminded me of some of our family gatherings. As you said, Jeremy, if my mum’s background had been ordinary, I’d probably be subjected to what you might call an inner tug-o’war that began in my childhood and wouldn’t let me alone for the rest of my life.’

They had proceeded through customs, rucksacks on their backs, though some other young people were halted for theirs to be inspected.

Howard was awaiting them, his face alight with pleasure, Ben by his side.

‘Talking of inner conflict,’ said Jeremy, ‘there’s a kid unlikely to be as lucky as you in that respect.’

Before coming to Germany, the two lads had stayed for a few days in Cornwall, where Jeremy’s Gentile girlfriend was working in a hotel during the summer holidays. It was for this reason that he was unable to phone home, since hitchhiking to St Ives for the purpose he had was not with his parents’ knowledge. A.P. too was thus constrained to lie to Martin and Moira, rather than let down his friend.

Though one lie is known to lead to another, Jeremy had been unable to bring himself to call London and pretend he was in Munich. Why does my dad have to put me in the position he has? he thought, as they walked with Howard and Ben to the car park. He and Laura don’t refuse invitations to mixed marriage wedding receptions. Why is Dad’s inflexibility about marrying out only applied to his own children?

He would not have that problem with Janis; there’d never be anyone but Kurt for her. Jeremy wouldn’t be thinking of marriage for years. Lindsey was just a girl he’d met at a party. All right, so he was highly attracted to her. Next month, though, Jeremy would be off to Oxford and she to Leicester University. Attraction was all it was. Had Jake Bornstein never been young! How on earth did a woman like Laura live with him?

Since Jeremy knew nothing of the confrontation that had taken place between Jake and Laura, the stand he then determined to take, that he be allowed to live his own life, would prove less difficult than he imagined, though Jake would not metamorphose into the opposite of ‘Mr Barrett of Wimpole Street’ overnight.