"This can be interpreted as an order to come down to the garden, can't it?" David read the note again: We've arrived safely. I'm in down the rear garden with the men. I'll see you around six. He shook his head. "Insidious. How dangerous the difference in interpretation can be. Shows how careful I must be with wording."

"I didn't even think of other meanings." Maria read it again. "But now I can see what you had thought you were saying." She began unbuttoning his shirt. "My egg's surely dead by now. Come, let's fuck before we clean for dinner."

"No confusing your meaning with that." David chuckled and undid the bow on her bodice. "Been a long time. A hundred and twenty days. Let's begin making up for missed ones."

An hour and a quarter later, they bathed and dressed, then headed downstairs for dinner. As they entered the withdrawing room, Herman was talking with Evelyn and Edith. He turned to greet them as they approached. "This must be Maria," Herman said as he extended his hand to her.

After introductions and a welcome from David, Evelyn said, "Herman had just begun telling us of his Swiss background. We'll have him continue."

Herman paused for a few moments as a servant arrived with glasses of Champagne for David and Maria. "When I was home on leave last week, I had my mother give me addresses for relatives who are still here, her mother and two brothers. They've maintained a correspondence over the years, and mother says the ties are still strong."

"Where are they?" David asked.

"Scherzingen, a small village on the shores of Lake Constance. Mother said I visited there as a child, but I don't remember it. I grew up in Aarau before we moved to England."

"Aarau, that's the capital of Aargau, isn't...?" Evelyn paused and nodded across the room. "Here they are now." He introduced Willie Maugham and John Wallinger when they had neared.

After greetings, John smiled at Maria and said, "You're more beautiful each time I see you."

Maria blushed, then gave David's arm a gentle squeeze. "This fellow brings it out in me. It's so good to have him back."

Two more glasses of Champagne arrived, and the group carried on with conversation until dinner was announced. "We're dining less formally and much simpler now with the war," Edith said as she walked David and Maria into the dining room and the others followed.

Maria was seated between David and Willie, and as she neared the end of her soup, she asked Willie, "Have you been in Switzerland long?"

"N-n-no, I just arrived a f-few weeks ago. I was with the R-red Cross in France during m-much of the past year. I had thought my earlier m-m-medical schooling could be put to g-g-good use with the Ambulance Corps."

"You studied medicine? I'm in my second year of nursing here at the University, and I'm considering continuing into medicine."

"I had pursued m-medical st-st-studies for f-f-five years."

"Five years, so you're a doctor, then?" Maria asked.

"N-n-no, I stopped my st-studies after the success of my first n-novel. My p-p-passion had always b-b-been writing, so I left medicine to devote my f-f-full time to it."

"You've published a novel?"

"N-no." Willie chuckled, "P-published eleven, plus t-t-ten plays."

"Oh, my! So many. Would I recognise any?"

"My first, Liza of Lambeth, was very p-popular, b-b-but that's n-now a dozen and a half years ago. My current one, Of Human Bondage, has some g-good reviews. My f-favourite calls it a w-w-work of genius and compares it to a Beethoven symphony."

"My, my. Those are highly complementary words." Maria leaned back as her soup dish and plate were removed. "What's the story about?"

"It's complex, but in essence, it's about m-m-man's struggle with direction, p-purpose and emotions."

"Would I find a copy in a bookstore here in Bern?"

"Easier if I sign one to you. I've brought a few c-cartons of them to use in promoting the work."

"So that's what brings you here."

Willie looked across the table at John. "That, and working on a p-project with Mr Wallinger." He turned his gaze back to Maria. "But you? You're studying n-nursing?"

"Yes, but even more exciting, I'm working with Edith, Mrs Grant Duff on a wounded prisoner of war project."

"I've heard of it. A n-n-noble idea." He looked past Maria at David. "And your husband? Is he involved with it also?"

"No, he's the Aide-de-Camp to the Ambassador. He also has a project which involves Mr Wallinger, though, so you'll likely be spending some time together." She paused as her sole was served and the Riesling was poured, smiling as she caught a glimpse of the label.

After she had seen Willie's glass poured, she raised hers to him and proposed a toast, "To the success of your new book."

He raised his glass, touched it to hers and said, "And to the success of the p-prisoner of war project and your studies." He took a sip and nodded, then took another. "This is an impressive wine. I didn't catch the l-l-label. Did you?"

"Yes, it's a Riesling from the Kaiserstuhl."

"The Kaiserstuhl? The one in Germany?" He looked toward the Ambassador, then back to Maria. "N-n-not good form to be drinking German wine at the moment."

"It was made by a British-Swiss family, who've recently escaped back into Switzerland. We managed to bring our entire stock with us." She took another sip and smiled.

He smiled back at her and nodded. "That exonerates it, th-then." He nosed the glass and took another sip. "Superb wine. You must be p-proud of the quality your f-family produces."

"This is the least of them. We may have some of the others with the courses that follow." Maria tilted her head and looked at Willie. "It must be a complex chore to write a novel. I found writing five-thousand-word essays complex. Keeping track of twenty times as many words would have my head spinning."

"There are three r-rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." He winked at her and took another sip of the Riesling.