At ten to five, David knocked on the door, opened it and rushed across the room to Maria. "Here or on the bed?"

"You've been talking about the men, haven't you?" She giggled. "Is that why you missed tea again?"

He bent and lifted the front of her skirts, then knelt as she scooted down the chaise longue and wrapped a leg around his back.

Twenty minutes later, as she calmed from another bout of shuddering, she said, "Let's move to the bed where it's more comfortable, and you can tell me about your adventures. Your mouth's been too busy to speak, and I'm curious about Manny."

Comfortably conjoined under the duvet two minutes later, Maria asked, "So, did he actually cop one?"

"No, he claims three. He said he wanted to stay with the first one, but he wondered if his approach would work again. Then he said he became curious and tried a third. When I left, he was trying to decide which one to go back to or whether he wanted to sample a fourth."

"And you believe him?"

"His eyes and his manner showed it to be true."

"And the others?"

"All of them. Two like Manny – sampling. And three have remained with their original women each night."

"What about disease?"

"I supplied them with condoms and told them they're readily available."

Maria sighed as she nodded. "I can sense their plight. The women. All the men were gone, and their world slowly turning to hell. Most women crave attention. Appreciation. Your men would offer them not only the attention but also a hope of escape. Escape from their boredom and also escape to a more peaceful setting. The Swiss image would be very inviting. So, where did they meet these women?"

David told her about following rail cars to find munitions factories and all the women pressed into working in them. He then gave a summary of the information they had gathered and how pieces fit together into the larger picture. "We now have a clear view of a major assault being planned, and we see the preparations for it."

"And did you join them in the easy dicky dipping?"

"Why would I do that?"

"You're a man."

"And you're far more than enough woman for me."

"Not even tempted?"

"My only thoughts were of you." He gave a gentle thrust. "And of doing this with you."

"So, what did you do?"

"Delivered watches and took orders for more, dined superbly, explored the area, visited a wine cellar, and all the while, dug for information."

"For five days?"

David recounted the highlights from his trip, beginning with the visit to Bienne, and while he was telling her about the watch order in Worms, she interrupted. "You're selling large quantities, but at wholesale prices, you're not making much. Wouldn't it be better to sell directly to the officers like you had been doing? Get the margin in addition to the commission?"

"I want to save some of the messes for when I need more specific information. Now, I'm gathering an overview, and I've been able to do that with the jewellers in Mannheim and Worms and from the places those have led."

"So, I'm sure you didn't stay in that horrible hotel a second night."

"No. I asked Herr Eisenstein for a fine restaurant. It's in a luxurious hotel, as sumptuous as ours was in London, and the dining was as superb."

"I thought you had said the food quality in Germany had declined."

"It has. The difference between what I had in April in Freiburg and now is dramatic. Sausage, cabbage, turnip and noodles in boring and repetitious combinations. What's leftover from feeding the Army and the nobility and supplying the places where only the powerful can afford to dine."

"So, you dined there? Were there many others?"

"Not many, but very powerful." He told her about the five generals and about being questioned. "When I finished lunch, I walked up to their table and apologised for causing them concern."

Maria giggled. "I can see you doing that. That's so much like you. Bold, proud, cocky. God! So cocky ... Close ... Oh, fuuu ..."

David held her as she trembled, and then, as she calmed, he continued his story. "I thought it would intrigue them in case we met again. I had learned they were also staying in the hotel and that one of them was Wilhelm, the Crown Prince. And it worked. An hour –"

"Who?"

"Prince Wilhelm, the Kaiser's son. He's the general commanding the 5th Army, and he was there with four other generals, one of them the top dog, the one in charge of all the German armies."

"And, knowing this, you saunter up to them and play mister confident?"

"I didn't know who the others were at the time, but if I had, it wouldn't have changed anything I did." He resumed a slow shifting of his hips. "Anyway, I went out and walked through the city to the vineyard whose wine had impressed me. The city has grown around it on three sides, the land being too precious to build upon because of the unique smokiness it gives the wine."

David continued, and when he described the Sußreserve method, Maria interrupted. "That's what some of our neighbours did in Gottenheim. They would use the sugar to mask the acid of their immature grapes."

"You've never spoken about it."

"Our vineyards were all well-sited, so we never had to resort to doing it."

"I wonder why Nikolaus uses it."

"I think it's the style the Germans want. Some residual sugar."

He nodded. "Anyway, after all the discussions you and I have had about fermentation and winemaking – and the ones with Tante, I had the confidence to comment. When Nikolaus began talking about the beneficial mould, I immediately thought of what Michael told us about Château d'Yquem."

"Was his wine anywhere near that quality?"

"Very much so. The distinctive aromas and flavours of the noble rot, as well as the intense concentration of grape flavours." David chuckled. "When I compared it to Yquem, the generals became more uncomfortable in their lack of experience, but Nikolaus took it as a huge compliment. From that point, he paid even less attention to the stuffed shirts."

"They must have sensed it."

"The Prince more than the others, and when his restlessness caused him to pull out his pocket watch, my salesman side took over."

"You didn't?"

"Did too. And to all the officers in his Army."

"No! You're joshing me."

"Gold ones for his General Staff, silver for the Majors and Colonels, and chromium steel for the junior officers."

Maria nodded as she absorbed this, and then she asked, "And how many would that be?"

"We're still waiting for the precise figures, but around sixteen to eighteen thousand."

"Thousand?"

"Yeah. The quantities also startled me as the negotiations unfolded."

"Surely, you didn't do that in the cellar."

"No, we met in the hotel the next day."

David continued telling the story, and when he mentioned that Hans was now dealing directly with the Army's purchasing department, Maria asked, "So, how does this affect your sales commission?"

"Hans confirmed he'll honour our agreement, and I'll receive the full ten per cent on every watch."

Maria hummed as she nodded. "How much is that?"

"A lot. We've settled on the prices for the three models, but we don't yet have the quantities of each."

"Approximately?"

"Between a hundred and ten and a hundred and twenty thousand."

"Fuck!"

"We are." He rocked his hips to demonstrate.

<><><>

At seven twenty, as David and Maria descended the stairs to join Ambassador Grant Duff and his wife for dinner, David said, "I forgot to tell you. I bought some wine to begin our cellar."

"From Nikolaus?"

"Yes. He said there have been only five exceptional vintages in the past half-century, so I bought some of each."

"How much?"

"Remembering what Michael told me in the cellar about maintaining the balance between maturing and consumption, I bought a dozen of the 1865, two dozen of the 1886, three dozen of the 1893, four dozen of the 1900 and five dozen of the 1911."

"Fifteen dozen? You must have been impressed." She shook her head. "That's a lot of wine."

"We have a lot of living to do once the war is over. They're all half-bottles; the wine is too intense to have a large amount at a sitting."

"That's risky with the older vintages. How do you know they're still sound?"

"Nikolaus opened an 1865 and an 1886 for me. I've never had anything near as sublime. They're both a rich amber, and I'd be satisfied by doing nothing beyond enjoying the colour and getting lost in the bouquet. The chef is creating a special sweet course to accompany an 1893 at the end of this evening's meal. Nikolaus said it's the vintage of the century."