The routine aspects of espionage were so time-consuming. It would take her the best part of an hour and a half to deposit her message and then go to the cemetery to leave a mark to indicate that she’d made the drop.

The only way to do it was with an early start, so she woke up at six, made as strong a cup of coffee as was possible these days and then put on a pair of gloves before sitting down to reread the letter she’d written the night before.

Dear Father,

Thank you for your recent letter. I am sorry I’ve not been able to reply sooner, but we’ve all been so busy here, and what with the usual coughs and colds there’s so little time!

Unfortunately, Viggo’s cold turned into a nasty bout of ’flu (it’s always the same with men!) so he’s been out of action for a while. The good news is that he’s now a lot better and in fact he looks like a new man! He is hoping to visit Uncle Kristian very soon. We’ll pass on your regards and of course let you know if Uncle Kristian has any news.

I promise I’ll write soon.

All my love,

Gerda

London would have to be happy with that. She was telling them she’d received their message; that all was well and there’d been a delay – they wouldn’t appreciate her not going into detail, but hard luck. Then she was informing them Agent Laertes had a new identity, which would worry them, but they’d hopefully be reassured that he was finally about to meet Agent Horatio.

She read it through once more and was satisfied. It was as much as they needed to know. Then she removed her gloves – there would be no danger of her leaving fingerprints – broke up the pencil with which she’d written the letter and removed the five sheets below it on the pad. These were deposited in her rubbish bin, which she’d empty on the way out. A quick bath, the same clothes she’d worn the previous day, another coffee and she was on her way.