'Do cut it out, Tessa. Sometimes I think that these love affairs of yours are staged to give you constant reassurance.'

'Fi was always saying that. Father never praised us for anything at all. Fi didn't care, but I wanted a bit of praise now and again.'

There was something in her voice that made me look at her more closely. 'Have you heard from Fiona?' It was a wild guess. 'A letter?'

'I was going to tell you, Bernard. Honestly I was. I was determined to tell you before you left this evening.'

'Tell me what?'

'I saw Fi.'

'Saw Fiona. When?'

'Just a few days ago.'

'Where?'

'I have a dear old aunt who lives in Holland. We used to spend holidays with her. I always go and see her for her birthday. She used to come to us but she's too infirm to travel now.' She gabbled nervously.

' Holland?'

'Near Eindhoven. She lives in a block of tiny flats built specially for elderly people. There's a doctor on call and meals if you want them. The Dutch do that sort of thing so well; it puts us to shame.'

'And Fiona?'

'She came for the birthday meal. I almost fell over with surprise. She was sitting there as if it was the most natural thing in the world.'

'What did you say?'

'What could I say, darling? My aunt knew nothing of Fiona going off to the bloody Russians. I didn't want to spoil the birthday for her. I just carried on as I had all the previous years.'

'Was George with you?'

'George doesn't like family gatherings. That is to say, he doesn't like gatherings of my family. When it's his family, it's quite a different matter, and there are thousands of them.'

'I see.' If what George didn't like was Tessa's father, it's a feeling that I shared heartily. 'Just you and Fiona and your aunt then?'

'She wants the children, Bernard.'

'Fiona? My children? Billy and Sally?'

'They're her children too,' said Tessa.

'Would you like to see her take them away?'

'Don't be like that, Bernard darling. You know I wouldn't. But she only wants them to spend a few weeks with her.'

'In Moscow? In Berlin?'

'I don't know. For a holiday, she said.'

'And if they go to her for a few weeks, how do we ever get them back?'

'I thought of that,' said Tessa. She sipped her drink. 'But if Fiona promises to send them back, she'll keep to it. It was the same when we were children; she'd never break her word in personal matters.'

'If I was only dealing with Fiona it might be different,' I said. 'But we're dealing with Soviet bureaucracy. And I wouldn't trust British bureaucracy as far as I could throw it, so the idea of delivering my kids to the mercies of the Soviet bureaucrats does not come happily to me.'

'I don't understand.'

'Those bastards want the kids as hostages.'

'For Fiona?'

'Right now she's obviously in the first flush of excitement. The Russians let her out to the West and know she'll come back. But the chances are that feeling won't last. She'll become disillusioned with Soviet society. She'll find it's not the paradise she's been dreaming of all these years.'

'Hostages?'

'When the kids are there, she'll discover that they can't return to the West all together. They'll make sure that she travels alone. She won't have any choice; she'll have to go back to the children.'

'She's prepared to go through the courts to get custody.'

'She told you that?'

'Over and over again.'

'That's because she knows the Department for which I work won't tolerate it going to the courts. They'll press me to let her have custody.'

'That would be disgusting.'

'It's what they would do.'

'The children have rights too. It would be wrong for a court to deliver them to the Russians without giving them a chance.'

'Maybe I shouldn't say what they'd do before they've done it, but I'd say Fiona's chances are good.'

'Bernard darling, do sit down for a moment. I didn't know how badly you'd take it. Do you want a whisky or something?'

'Thanks, Tess. No, I'll have some more champagne,' I said. I sat down while she poured it for me.

'She said she doesn't want to row with you. She's still fond of you, Bernard, I can tell.'

'I don't think so,' I said. But did I really only want to hear myself contradicted?

Tessa sat down next to me. I could feel the warmth of her body and smell the perfume. It was a heavy exotic scent, suited, I suppose, for the sort of evening she had ahead of her. 'I wasn't going to tell you this, but I think Fi is still in love with you. She denied it, but I've always been able to see through her.'

'You're not making it any easier, Tessa.'

'She must miss the children dreadfully. Couldn't it be that she simply wants to be with them for a short time each year?'

'It might be,' I said.

'You don't sound very convinced.'

'Fiona is a very devious person, Tessa. Truthful when it suits her, but devious. Surely I don't have to tell you that. Have you told anyone else about meeting Fiona?'

'Of course not. Fi said not to.'

'Not even George?'

'Not even George. Cross my heart,' she said, and made the children's gesture of running a finger across her throat to swear it was true.

'And there was no one with her?'

'Just Fiona. She stayed the night. My aunt has a spare room. We talked half the night. Fiona had a rented car. She went to Schiphol next morning. She had to fly on to somewhere else… Paris, I think.'

'Why couldn't she contact me?'

'She said you'd say that. She said it was better this way. I suppose her own people wouldn't suspect a stopover in Holland the way they would a visit to London to see you.'

For a few minutes we said nothing. Then Tessa said, 'She said she'd seen you.'

'Since leaving?'

'At London airport. She said you had a brief chat.'

'I'll have to ask you to forget that, Tessa. It was a long time back.'

'Didn't you tell Dicky or anyone? That was silly, Bernard. Was that about the children?'

'Yes, it was. No, I didn't tell Dicky or anyone.'

'I didn't tell Dicky about seeing my sister either,' said Tessa.

'I was thinking about that, Tessa. You realize that this has a bearing on your relationship with Dicky?'

'Because I didn't tell him?'

'I don't want to discuss with you what Dicky does for a living, but surely you see that having an affair with you could lead to very bad trouble for him.'

'Because of Fiona?'

'Someone who wanted to make trouble could connect Fiona to Dicky via the affair he's having with you.'

'But equally they could connect Fiona with Dicky via the fact that you work for him.'

'But I'm not regularly seeing Fiona.'

'Neither am I, not regularly.'

'That might be difficult to prove. And it might be that just one meeting with Fiona would be enough to make Dicky's bosses uneasy.'

'My sister went to Russia. That doesn't make me a spy. And it doesn't make everyone I know a suspect.'

'Perhaps it shouldn't, but it does. And in any case, Dicky can't be lumped together with all the other people you know… not in this context anyway. Dicky's contacts have to be specially scrutinized.'

'I suppose you're right.'

'I am.'

'So what should I do?'

'I'd hate to see you mixed up in some damned espionage scandal, Tessa. I know you're an innocent, but many innocents get tangled up in these things.'

'You want me to stop seeing Dicky?'

'You should make a clean break without delay.'

'Write him a letter?'

'Absolutely not,' I said. Why did women always feel the need to write letters when ending an affair?

'I can't just stop. I'm having dinner with him the day after tomorrow.'

'You're sure Dicky doesn't know you saw Fiona?'

'I certainly didn't tell him,' said Tessa. She was strident, as if she resented the advice I was giving her – and I suppose she did. 'I told no one, no one at all. But if I just stop seeing him now, perhaps he'll guess there's something more to it.'