They fell silent and Marianne surveyed the rustic environs through which they were travelling, which matched her preconceptions of Bavaria. Pastel-pink rooftops peeping between tall trees, ahead the gleaming steeple of a little white church. The fairy-tale quality of the surroundings, though, was at odds with her feelings when they reached the city, a place of spacious squares and stone buildings mellowed by time.

The genial taxi-driver, who spoke some English, assumed they were tourists and reeled off a list of historic edifices they must not fail to visit. Was it from the balcony of one of them that Hitler had ranted at his Munich rallies?

Marianne was tempted to inquire, but thought better of it. She was in the country where Hitler was understandably unmentionable. But that hadn’t stopped the evil from rising as a phoenix from the ashes. According to Henry Moritz, neo-Nazi activists like the British National Front were spreading their poison and biding their time in the States as well as in Europe.

‘You haven’t told me what, exactly, you’re hoping to achieve from this visit?’ she said to Howard, returning her mind to practical matters. ‘And if it’s what your dad is expecting, and your mum hoping for, let me warn you now that Ben is unlikely to be with us when we return home.’

Howard gave her an agonized glance.

‘It’s no use looking at me like that,’ she said gently. ‘Only a fool, and you’re not one, would let himself think that Christina will allow you to have Ben. She loves him as much as you do—’

‘There’s no need to tell me that.’

‘But it seems to be something that my brother Harry, who’s always been a fool in some ways, hasn’t paused to consider.’

‘As if I didn’t upset my parents enough by marrying Christina – look what I’ve done to them now,’ was Howard’s response.

Marianne patted his hand comfortingly before saying what she must. ‘You’re going to have to harden yourself to that and to a lot of other things, Howard. Or how shall you cope if your father-in-law won’t let you over the doorstep?’

She kept her tone firm, though she could have wept for the sadness in Howard’s eyes. ‘Since you’re still Christina’s husband, you have the right to speak with her. If I’m allowed over the doorstep with you, I shall insist that your discussion take place in private. If I’m not, I suggest that be the line you take.’

Howard would wish anyone luck to get the better of his Aunt Marianne the way she looked right now, her shoulders squared and a determined gleam in her eye.

In the event, Marianne’s intervention was not required. It was Lisl Schmidt who opened the door to Howard’s ring, nor did she hesitate before inviting them in.