We sat silent for a few moments. Ernst was crooning to the parrot:

‘Die Fahne hoch,

Die Reihen fest geschlossen …’

‘The Pier Head,’ she said, ‘… coming off the ferry late at night, and scrambling for a No. 9 tram at the top.’

‘The water,’ I said. ‘The noise of the water right underneath, and the pier lifting up and down with the waves.’

‘Heil Hitler!’ Ernst said. ‘Heil Hitler, Dummkopf! Heil Hitler!’

‘The folk …’ Jinny said. ‘There was nothing like a Saturday night for getting to know folk. Eh, love, it’s a long time ago!’

‘We’re going back there in a week,’ I pointed out. ‘Isaak is there now.’

‘Places change as well as people.’ She looked at the little diamond-set gold watch on her wrist. ‘We’ll never get back if we don’t get a move on. Ernst, leave that damned parrot alone, and let’s get back to the car.’

‘Heil Strasser!’ Ernst, retreating, called to the parrot. ‘Heil Goering! Heil Roehm!’

‘Patrick is here already,’ Dadda said when we got back to the house. ‘He has gone up to his room.’

‘He’s early,’ Jinny said. ‘I’ll go and see Hannah about the dinner.’

‘Was it good?’ Dadda asked me.

‘Magnificent,’ I said.

‘Perhaps we will stop on the way back, and see the London Zoo. That is very good.’

‘When did you go there?’ I asked curiously.

He shook his head. ‘I have not been.’