IT WAS AT the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna that Edith noticed that Ian was behaving in a curious way, bending down as if looking at the showcase of liturgical objects but, in fact, she realised, looking at her through the showcase.

He was her secretary of mission at this International Atomic Energy Agency conference – ‘aide-de-camp’ was the term he used, either comically or pompously, she wasn’t sure, or as a way of baulking at his subordinate role.