‘She didn’t seem preoccupied, worried?’

‘Not really.’

‘Hmm.’ Sandy lit a cigar. ‘There’s something up with her, has been for a few weeks. She says it’s nothing but I’m not so sure.’ He smiled. ‘Oh well, maybe this voluntary work will take her out of herself. Did she tell you about that?’

‘Yes. It sounded like a good thing.’

‘And you had an encounter with the Falange in the restaurant.’ Sandy raised his eyebrows.

Harry nodded. ‘Just a bit of rudeness.’

Sandy laughed. ‘Hitler said once that Fascism can turn a worm into a dragon. It’s done that to a good few worms here. Oh well, you just have to let them breathe their fire and smoke. It gets a bit wearing though.’ He smiled with sudden affection. ‘It’s good to see a sober English face sometimes.’

‘It must be odd, working with these people. The Ministry of Mines you work with mainly, isn’t it? You were saying the other night.’

Sandy nodded, running a hand over his moustache. ‘That’s right. All my dinosaur hunting came in useful in the end, you know. More useful than that Latin they used to fill our heads with. I know a bit about geology – I met this mining engineer at a function a while back and we ended up going into business.’

‘Really?’ That’s Otero, Harry thought. He tried to hide his interest.

‘Franco’s economic policy is to make Spain as self-sufficient as possible,’ Sandy went on, ‘relying on its own resources instead of being at the mercy of foreign powers. Classic fascist stuff. So if you’re in mining exploration, the opportunities are limitless. They’ll even subsidize exploration costs if you can supply the expertise.’ He paused, studying Harry so keenly that for a moment Harry was afraid he knew.

‘You remember the other night, when I said I could give you a few business tips?’

‘Yes.’

‘You can make a lot of money here if you know where to invest.’

Harry nodded encouragingly. ‘I’ve saved quite a bit from my allowance over the years. Sometimes I’ve thought I’d like to do something with it rather than just have it sitting in the bank.’

Sandy leaned forward and clapped him on the arm. ‘Then I’m your man. I’d enjoy helping you make some money. Especially in mining, as a reward for coming with me on all those fossil-hunting expeditions.’ He inclined his head. ‘They didn’t bore you, did they?’

‘No. I enjoyed them.’

‘Still fascinates me. The things hidden in the earth.’ He nodded judicially. ‘Let me see what I can do. I’ll have to be a bit careful; the Falangists at the ministry make an exception for me but they don’t like Brits.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll think of something. I’d like to show you I’ve made a success.’ He paused, gave Harry one of his keen looks. ‘You’ve been a bit dubious about that, haven’t you?’

‘Well …’

‘I’ve seen it in your face, Harry. You’ve wondered what I’m doing mixing with these people. Barbara still wonders the same, I’ve seen it in her face too. But you can’t be choosy in business.’

‘It takes time to realize how – complicated everything is here.’

Sandy gave a quick ironic smile. ‘It’s complicated all right. Did you go to that party at General Maestre’s?’

‘Yes. I’m supposed to be taking his daughter to the Prado.’ He would have to ring her tonight; he had been putting it off.

‘Nice girl?’

‘Very young. They were all Monarchists at the party. Didn’t like the Falange at all.’

‘They want an authoritarian monarchy, the aristocrats in charge like fifty years ago. But everything would just fall apart again.’

‘They’re pro-Allied.’

‘Don’t get them wrong, Harry. They’re hard as stone. They all fought for Franco in the war; the Monarchists’ pal Juan March financed the original army rebellion.’

‘I’ve been hearing that name a lot lately.’

‘The Falange reckon he’s conspiring with the Monarchists and has links with the Allies. They say he’s bribing the generals, buying their support for keeping Spain out of the war.’

And then Harry saw, it was like a light going on in his head. Bribery. That was what Hillgarth and Maestre had been talking about that day. The Knights of St George was a code for sovereigns, George slaying the dragon on the obverse. They would pay them in sovereigns. He took a deep breath.

‘You all right?’ Sandy asked him.

‘Yes. I just – remembered something.’ He took a drink of coffee and forced himself back to the present. ‘Tell me,’ he said for something to say, ‘do you hear anything of your brother now?’

‘Haven’t heard from Peter in nine years. After I was sacked from Rookwood Dad didn’t want me near him. He said I belonged to the lost, he couldn’t understand how anyone could do anything so wicked as what I did.’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘Putting spiders in a master’s room. God, if he could see some of the things that have gone on here. Anyway, after I left home I never heard any more from Dad, nor from Peter the perfect son either.’ A bitter note came into his voice. ‘I’m sure Pete’s being heroic as an army padre somewhere.’ He lit a cigar.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to—’

‘It’s all right. Look, about that other business, let me talk to one or two people, see what I can arrange.’

‘That’d be good.’ He hesitated. ‘Can you tell me any more about it?’

Sandy smiled and shook his head. ‘Not yet. Matter of business confidentiality. He looked at his watch. ‘I’d better be going, I’ve a meeting of my Jewish Committee.’

‘Barbara said you were doing some work with refugees.’

‘Yes, they keep coming across the Pyrenees. They try and get to Portugal, in case Franco enters the war and hands them back to Hitler. Some of them are in a bad way when they arrive – we try to clean them up and help them with papers.’ He gave a little smile, as though embarrassed at his charity. ‘I like to help them; I suppose I’ve always felt a bit of a wandering Jew myself.’ He sat up. ‘Well, I must go. My treat. But we must do this again. I’m nearly always here at this time.’

HARRY BEGAN walking home. It was still cold and dank. The conversation between Maestre and Hillgarth kept coming back to him, Hillgarth’s terse order to forget Juan March and the Knights of St George. Could the embassy be involved in bribing ministers too? It seemed far-fetched once he thought about it; dangerous, too, if Franco found out.

He shook his head, there was a feeling of pressure in his bad ear, that faint annoying buzzing again. Perhaps it was the damp weather. He thought again about Miss Maxse saying they couldn’t win this war by playing a straight bat. What else was it she had said – about people who got involved with extremist politics? ‘Sometimes it’s the excitement as much as the politics.’ Sandy had always enjoyed taking risks – was that why he had ended up here? He wondered again about the Jews. Sandy had a good side. He would help people, if he was in charge: like educating him about fossils; like running Barbara’s life, which is what he seemed to be doing.

He ought to go back to the embassy and report his progress. They would be delighted with the offer to involve him in one of Sandy’s schemes. Of course it might be something else, nothing to do with the gold. But he kept thinking of the Knights of St George, what it all might mean. And what if they failed, if the Falangists won the struggle for Franco’s ear and Spain entered the war? People like Maestre could be in danger; perhaps he wanted to get his daughter out of the country, if he could.

He realized he had wandered almost as far as the Puerta de Toledo. He stopped and stood momentarily, watching the carts and beat-up old cars passing by. Some of them looked as though they had been on the road for twenty years, as they probably had. A gasogene spluttered past. He had heard nothing from Sofia about a doctor for Enrique, it had been over a week now. What if Enrique developed rabies? Harry had heard the Chinese believed that if you saved someone’s life you were bound to them for ever, but he knew it was Sofia that kept the family in his mind. He hesitated, then crossed the road and headed down towards Carabanchel.