The choice of location for her interview with the ex-Foreign Office representative was a difficult one. Eventually he had suggested the Lyons Tea Rooms located in the heart of the shopping district if the Compound.

She was not particularly concerned for her own reputation. She had been in far more compromising positions than afternoon tea with a single gentleman in a public place.

He was seated at the table and stood as she approached. Tall but not excessively so; considerate in manner as he...