Nadya said: ‘You look tired, Niels. You have been on duty?’

‘Yes. Soon I am going to bed.’

‘Poor Niels. You have a hard time. So much duty, so little sleep.’

She looked at him, her face not quite innocent. Mouritzen smiled at her.

‘I am grateful for your sympathy, Nadya.’

Simanyi said: ‘Think what it must be like on the little fishing boats in such weather as this.’

Olsen laughed. ‘You must keep your fishing for the harbours, Mr Simanyi. A catch is more certain there, too.’

Nadya said to Mouritzen in a low voice: ‘I am most sympathetic to you, Niels. Surely you have not forgotten that?’

Mouritzen looked away, embarrassed. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I have not forgotten.’

‘I am patient,’ Nadya said, ‘and I am forgiving. Do you not think I am an excellent woman, Niels?’

He nodded. ‘Yes, excellent.’

She smiled. ‘Eat your breakfast. You look hungry.’