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‘It was,’ I said. ‘Perhaps it still is.’ I wished we could all three be there at that moment, enjoying the warm, salty air of an Odessa evening. I yearned for that southern magic, the smell of rotting flowers mingled with brine, the simple fellowship of Shura and his friends which had appeared so sophisticated and now seemed pleasantly provincial. ‘Shall we all go there tomorrow? Take the train?’

‘Is there a train, any more?’ My mother brightened.

‘There has to be. It’s a main line.’

‘It’s a wonderful idea.’ But she was hesitant.

Esmé drained her glass. ‘I have to be back in two days. You could go.’

I became obsessed. ‘What about compassionate leave?’

Esmé was regretful. ‘Not fair. There are only a few of us.’

‘She has her duty, Maxim.’

‘Yes, mama.’

‘And I suppose we have ours.’ Mother collected the glasses. ‘Without me, the laundry would collapse. The ladies would receive gentlemen’s collars and the gentlemen would be going to bed in ladies’ night-dresses.’ She giggled. She had to pour herself another glass of tea and sip it before she could stop. We both laughed with her.

‘It’s like the old days,’ said my mother, and her face became set and sad.

‘The future will be better,’ I said. ‘We’ll buy a house of our own. On Trukhanov Island. We’ll have a yacht. We’ll sail up and down the Dnieper. We’ll have a motor and visit Odessa whenever we feel like it. And Sevastapol. And Yalta. And Italy and Spain. And Greece. We’ll take the waters in Baden-Baden, which by then will be part of Russia, and we’ll go to England for the Season. Paris will be our second home. We shall hob-nob with the famous. You, Esmé, shall be courted by dukes, by the Prince of Wales. I shall attract a circle of titled ladies who will fight one another for my affections. And you, mother, will be Queen of a Salon!’

‘I should become bored very quickly.’

‘I shall invent a new method of cleaning everything. A universal laundry. At the touch of a switch, you’ll make the whole world shine!’

‘I could run the Salon and this world-launderer at the same time?’

‘Why not!’

We laughed again. Those were moments which were to be amongst the happiest I have known.

My mother told me Uncle Semya was very pleased about my Diploma. If I needed any assistance finding a good job in Odessa he would be happy to offer it. He suggested, however, that there were opportunities ‘elsewhere’. She took him to mean I might find greater scope abroad. I wondered if he still wished me to travel to England. The thought excited me. Since I had become such a man of the world I could go anywhere with complete assurance. The passport remained one of my most important treasures. It was an ‘open’ passport, the hardest to obtain, particularly during the War. I could leave and enter the country at any time. I could visit all countries friendly to Russia. I could go to England, America, France. If peace were made, I could even go to Berlin should the spirit take me. At the age of seventeen I was a person of considerable substance. I already possessed virtually everything I had ever dreamed of save the resources to build my own inventions. I took Esmé back and on my way to my own hotel I continued my internal debate.