‘Oh that! But you could help him with that; couldn’t you,’ she said, taking another cigarette and fixing it into the holder with slightly shaking hands. A fact which surprised her.

‘I could,’ he said modestly. ‘But you see, now, today, everything is suddenly quite altered; there has been, you could say, almost a Divine Intervention. Now I do not see him as merely a double, ah no.’ He opened the second louvre, it slid upwards with a whisper. ‘Now I can see him as the true l’Aiglon! No contact lenses, no hair to dye; he has the language, the features, the grace, the maleness, the force. Of this I am certain.’

‘Can he act?’

Grottorosso shrugged. ‘I detest actors. You know I only ever use true and natural material, I do not like them contrived. I shall test him, of course. I am a Master Craftsman, you must remember, a potter in whose hands the clay is formed into something of breathless beauty and form. I do that. Give me pure clay; I will create.’

‘And Wolf wasn’t that?’

‘No. Poor Hagel. He was flawed. I did not see. In spite of your warnings and your caution, I was headstrong and rejected your advice. I have been punished: so it should be. But now … but now, Minerva! My Miss Drew from Warwick … she was right: to my astonishment, to my relief, another door has opened!’

She lit her cigarette, closed the lighter deliberately with her thumb, inhaled, blew a steady stream of smoke towards the Agapanthus. ‘And another one closed. Just this very minute,’ she said.

Grottorosso was about to unbutton his tunic, his hands froze at the chest. ‘Closed? What does that mean?’

‘Didn’t you hear it slam?’

‘What door?’

‘The Money Door. The vaults.’

He looked in puzzlement towards Belluno. ‘What does it mean, the vaults?’

‘In simple terms,’ said Minerva, ‘in baby talk that you will understand, I am pulling out. Removing the shekels.’

‘Shekels?’

‘You may care to recall that for the last half hour I have been very careful to use the word “we” in this conversation. I drop that as of now, it is You and I. Basta. You are on your own, Bert. I’m out.’

Grottorosso clasped his hands calmly before him. ‘You are withdrawing your finance, is that it?’

‘Exactly.’

‘I am permitted to ask the reason?’

‘You can ask, honey, you won’t like it.’

‘This is a sudden decision?’

‘Came to me in a blinding flash of light, like Saul on the road to Damascus. The moment I heard Sylva Puglia say “accident” and “Wolf fencing”, I knew. I don’t want any part of your Divine Intervention.’

‘It is incomprehensible.’

‘Umberto! Sit down. Now just get your ass on a chair and keep it there, I’ve got a lot to say.’

He sat slowly on the edge of his bunk.