Daniel grins, and Caroline blushes. She turns on her heel and goes back to her room without another word. Daniel hesitates for a moment, then runs after her.

‘Hey, I’m sorry; that was silly of me.’

Caroline doesn’t reply. She is really angry at him; even a nearsighted four-legged guy like me can see that. I’m not sure why, but Daniel seems to have caught on right away. He’s now standing really close to her and I think he’s trying to work out what to do. He eventually goes for the option that I, as a dog, would have picked too: physical contact. He puts his arms round Caroline and pulls her very close.

There’s suddenly tension in the air. It’s as though the old von Eschersbach had turned up the electricity on the paddock fence to the max.

chapter twelve

‘He’s so sweet! Honestly! I don’t think I’ve met such a great guy in ages!’

Nina’s eyes are sparkling, and as she talks, her hands talk right along with her. Even though Operation Caroline’s Prince has yet to be crowned with success, at least her best friend seems finally to have hit the jackpot. Nina has been sitting on our couch for a solid hour singing Dr Wagner’s praises. Ugh – the very idea of Nina choosing to spend time with that tormenter of dogs is bizarre beyond belief. A man who has blood on his hands! Maybe even my own! On the other hand, what do I care? The only thing that matters to me in the end is Caroline’s wellbeing.

While Nina’s voice drones on in the background, my thoughts wander. When the weather improves, Mr Beck and I want to get cracking again. Anyway, the thing with Willi wasn’t a total flop. Beck was right – it was good practice, and we got pretty far. I’m not sure why Caroline thought that Willi might be a burglar. Could it have been something to do with his peculiar smell? But there’s no way that Caroline noticed that; her nose isn’t nearly good enough, and Willi was never standing right next to her. Beck and I have to fine tune our approach. I’ll go and look for him in the garden, assuming Nina stops talking at some point and I can go back to the workshop with Caroline. But unfortunately, it doesn’t look as though that’ll happen any time soon; Nina is gushing like a waterfall.

‘And his looks – just fantastic! A super physique! And all his lovely brown hair! A little like Hugh Grant, don’t you think?’

I prick up my ears. Maybe this conversation isn’t so boring after all. So Dr Wagner is good-looking. This brings us to a topic that is pretty puzzling to dogs: what makes a human look good to other humans? Does a person need to have a lot of hair? Or is less hair better? Does being tall make someone look nice – or being short? Are the standards for men different from those for women? Oh dear, when it comes down to it, I’ve taken on a huge project with this ‘matchmaking service’. Which makes what Nina’s now saying all the more interesting.