From the moment that they had been introduced by an ebullient Minerva, and had greeted each other in German, he had not left her side almost all day. It has not particularly irritated her; he was pleasing to look at, polite, eager to help, and never for one moment had prevented her from her duties as a surrogate hostess. He was just always there. Diffident, shy, unsettled by the crowd of chattering and laughing strangers, grateful for her confident presence. At lunch he had helped her to food, carried her plate and his own to a quiet place under the trees, and she had given in with good grace mainly because she could see that Marcus was enjoying himself and was fully occupied with the ageing Due d’Auribeau, Minerva and the strange woman in the bamboo hat who clearly fascinated him. He was ‘doing his job’ perfectly, so, she reasoned, this entertaining of the shy young German must be hers, and with all her past experience of dealing with Mr Bender’s clients, she knew that the very best way was to let them talk about themselves; all that she was required to do was listen; smile from time to time, nod in agreement, pat a troubled hand with understanding affection. It left her quite unscathed, intact, unrevealed, but convinced the client that she was wise, kind and brilliantly amusing. It saved a lot of trouble. And, really, she thought, listening to the steady murmur of his German, it was not such a chore. So she listened sympathetically to his story which was totally predictable from his humble birth in Cologne where his father owned a small restaurant near the cathedral, to his steady climb through the kitchens and bar to serving at table, to his progress from hotel to hotel from Frankfurt to Munich where finally, as a Floor Waiter at the Four Seasons, he was poised to move towards greater heights with imminent promotion to the restaurant in sight, when he was summoned to serve a late supper in an ornate suite on the third floor where, menu and wine card in hand, he came face to face with Umberto Grottorosso and his fate.