‘Me–command for you?’ Harley Quin’s long, sad face brightened into its peculiarly charming smile. ‘I have no commands for you, Mr Satterthwaite. I have never had commands. You yourself know things, see things, know what to do, do them. It has nothing to do with me.’

‘Oh yes, it has,’ said Mr Satterthwaite. ‘You’re not going to change my mind on that point. But tell me. Where have you been during what it is too short to call time?’

‘Well, I have been here and there. In different countries, different climates, different adventures. But mostly, as usual, just passing by. I think it is more for you to tell me not only what you have been doing but what you are going to do now. More about where you are going. Who you are going to meet. Your friends, what they are like.’

‘Of course I will tell you. I should enjoy telling you because I have been wondering, thinking you know about these friends I am going to. When you have not seen a family for a long time, when you have not been closely connected with them for many years, it is always a nervous moment when you are going to resume old friendships and old ties.’

‘You are so right,’ said Mr Quin.

The Turkish coffee was brought in little cups of oriental pattern. Ali placed them with a smile and departed. Mr Satterthwaite sipped approvingly.

‘As sweet as love, as black as night and as hot as hell. That is the old Arab phrase, isn’t it?’

Harley smiled over his shoulder and nodded.

‘Yes,’ said Mr Satterthwaite, ‘I must tell you where I am going though what I am doing hardly matters. I am going to renew old friendships, to make acquaintance with the younger generation. Tom Addison, as I have said, is a very old friend of mine. We did many things together in our young days. Then, as often happens, life parted us. He was in the Diplomatic Service, went abroad for several foreign posts in turn. Sometimes I went and stayed with him, sometimes I saw him when he was home in England. One of his early posts was in Spain. He married a Spanish girl, a very beautiful, dark girl called Pilar. He loved her very much.’

‘They had children?’