‘Do you have copies of your own compositions?’ I ask, as we cross the road bridge into Tawburn. He shakes his head again, and points to it. ‘They are all up here,’ he says, alarmingly, ‘but I shall play them to you before we go public. You remember how Kreisler used to write pieces in the style of baroque composers? It’s a bit of a fraud, but I do something of the sort with the Hassidic masters.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘They are my own tunes, but I ascribe them to great rabbis of the past, which accords them instant reverence and popularity in the yeshiva world.’

‘Are they preformed, or improvised?’

‘A bit of both. Sometimes I can do twenty minutes of variations on a wedding tune.’

Jumping Joachims, I tell myself. He has developed a skill that has been gone from concert halls for a century, the art of a Paganini or a New Orleans jazzman, who makes up his music as he goes along. If I can only bring him once before a discerning audience, I will have done more to regenerate the art of music than any puppet-master since Diaghilev.

‘I long to hear you perform it,’ I assure him. ‘I have to leave for London first thing in the morning, but I’ll be back soon and I’ll make immediate arrangements for you to audition suitable pianists and cellists. I shall also hire rehearsal premises near your home.

‘I have just taken on someone to assist me up here. If you need anything urgently – new strings, scores, paper – call Sandra Adams on this number and she will get them to you without delay.’

His face falls, and I grasp the immensity of my error. ‘I’m so sorry,’ I splutter. ‘You cannot possibly have dealings with a gentile woman, what will people think? Stupid of me. Forget I spoke. If there is anything you need, call me in London and I will get Mr Woodward, the manager of the Royal Tawburn, to hold them for you at the reception desk. He does little favours for me, lets me use his vault between visits, to save me shlepping my stuff up and down the railway line. I’ll tell him to expect requests from a Mr Rapoport of your description. Whatever you do, don’t worry. We will work this through without offence to your faith or family. We have not come this far, you and me, in order to fail.’