‘You find passengers too much of a distraction.’

‘Not too much, I think.’

‘You don’t think straight; that’s the trouble. Once we’ve cleared Amsterdam, I suppose it will be the Simanyi girl again?’

‘No, no.’

With a grim satisfaction, Olsen said: ‘You are not your own master, though. They look at you and smile, and you are as helpless as a little child.’

‘Lately, I’ve been considering the advantages of marriage.’

‘Marriage? For you, there are no advantages. Only another complication – something else to distract your mind with. Do you think you would stop chasing the others, if you had a wife back in Copenhagen?’

‘Why not? When a man has found what he needs, he stops looking for it. Isn’t that obvious?’

Olsen paused, his hand on the rail, preparing to go down the stairs.

‘And what is it a man needs, Niels? A man like you? When you have solved that problem, you will know more about yourself.’